NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In each outing during the three-game losing streak the team brought with it to the Music City, the Florida Gators had at least one solid half of really poor shooting, the frustration of which spilled over into really poor defense, and ultimately spelled defeat. Also frustrating, obviously.  

No one in the visiting locker room was popping corks or tossing confetti Saturday night, but the Gators felt pretty good about how they responded to a brutal shooting first half against Vanderbilt on the road. They did it by defending the Commodores, mired in a Southeastern Conference record losing streak, into an even worse offensive half than their opponent's. Eventually, both teams found their shooting touch, but UF found its sooner, more often and from deeper in 61-55 Southeastern Conference win at Memorial Gymnasium. 

Sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson scored 20 points, while shooting guard and classmate Noah Locke bombed in 17 more, with four of his five 3-pointers coming after halftime, as the Gators (13-8, 5-3) used 48-percent shooting, including 6-for-9 from the arc, to get some distance on the Commodores (8-13, 0-8) and close out a road win that halted that three-game skid. Johnson went 7-for-11 from the floor, 2-for-3 from deep and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line over 39 minutes. Locke, just two of nine the previous two games from long distance, was good on five of his eight 3-balls, including a huge one with 2:19 to play that put the Gators up by nine. Defensively, UF forced 17 turnovers, their second-most in league play this season. 

"For us, this game was about our defense, and just knowing the offense would come," Johnson said.

The second-half offensive awakening helped cancel out a 10-for-29 shooting performance (34.5 percent) through the first 20 minutes (with misses on 11 of 14 from the arc). Throughout those bouncing balls, though, UF maintained its defensive effort and energy despite watching shot after shot clang. By doing so, Vandy clanged away, as well. The Commodores went just 7-for-24 overall and made two of 12 from deep, as Florida took a 26-21 lead to the locker room. 

"It's something coach has been harping on. That we have to lock in on defense and stay locked in. The shots will eventually fall," Locke said. "Keeping the same energy through the whole game? That was the problem the last few games."

Not this one. 

"I thought we guarded, man. I thought we defended at a high level," UF coach Mike White said. "I thought it was as hard as we've played defensively in a while. I thought our guys laid it on the line from the tip and for the better part of 40 minutes. Flying around. Talking. Communicating clearly with one another. Not a lot of blown assignments. We just played with the energy and effort that it takes to win on the road in this league. Obviously, it wasn't our best offensive effort, but credit Vandy. They just kept coming." 

For that, yes, the Commodores get credit. Especially given the circumstances. 

Make that 26 straight SEC losses for Vanderbilt. That's two more than the all-time record that was held for 80 years by Sewanee University, which dropped 25 straight from 1938-40 then dropped out of the conference. The Commodores, riddled by injuries to superstar players the last two seasons, tied the record Jan. 25 at South Carolina, broke it Wednesday in giving Kentucky a scare on the road, then padded it against Florida. 

"I was most disappointed with how we started the game," Vandy first-year coach and former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse said. "This was a great opportunity for us and we came out soft. Just soft. We've got to get away from that disposition."
 
UF led 10-3 early and by eight, 19-13, inside six minutes, as both teams flailed away at the basket. Florida sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard (9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds) made a driving layup with six seconds to go to send his team to intermission up by five. 

"We stayed together, stayed poise, and fought through the adversity," said Johnson, who had 11 of his team's 26 first-half points. "We stayed focused on defense. We knew the offense would come."

It came quickly in the second half, courtesy of an 11-2 burst on 4-for-5 shooting to open the period, with 3s by Nembhard and Locke, to take a 14-point lead. Three straight possessions ending in 3-pointer makes (one a late-clock NBA bomb by freshman guard Tre Mann, then two straight by Locke) had the Gators up 18 inside 10 minutes left. 

But like White said, Vandy kept coming. 

A 15-4 Commodores run, finished off by 3s from guard Maxwell Evans (9 points) cut the UF lead to six with less than three minutes left, but Locke drilled a 3 out of a timeout on a nice post kick-out by grad-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. (6 points, 7 rebounds) to restore the edge to nine. 

"They made shots. Give them credit," said Stackhouse, whose team bounced back by making nearly 47 percent of its second-half field-goal tries. "Noah Locke? When he got open, he took advantage of his opportunities."

Twice in the final minute, Vandy crept with five points, but Locke knocked down a couple free throws the first time, and the second time Johnson made one of two after securing the rebound on a Commodores final field-goal attempt with a chance to make it a one-possession game. 

"This game was important," Johnson said. "Again, we tried mainly to focus on our defense. We did good in the first half, slacked off a little bit in the second, but we were still able to get some big stops near the end." 

While making some equally big baskets along the way.