Final: Florida 61, Vanderbilt 42
Saturday, January 22, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
FLORIDA 61, VANDERBILT 42
FLORIDA 61, VANDERBILT 42
WHAT HAPPENED: Fifth-year senior point guard Tyree Appleby came off the bench to score 11 points and led a balanced scoring attack that helped the Gators to a home victory Saturday afternoon over Vanderbilt and a third straight Southeastern Conference win. The Gators, playing for the second consecutive game without standout forward Colin Castleton, used a run of 11 straight points to open the second half -- the first eight on 2s, then a 3-pointer by grad-transfer guard Brandon McKissic -- to break open what was a three-point game at intermission. During the run, UF hit five of 10 field-goal attempts to Vandy's 0-for-5 and out-rebounded the Commodores 10-1, before the visitors broke their cold start to the period; but only for a moment. Florida eventually took the lead out to 18 with 12 minutes to play, while Vandy was missing nine of its first 10 shots of the half. UF went on to shoot just 38 percent for the game, but coasted home by holding the Commodores to just 29-percent shoot overall, 17 percent from the 3-point line, a season-low number of points for an opponent, and the fifth fewest points by an opponent during Coach Mike White's seven seasons. Junior center Jason Jitoboh, starting for the second time for Castleton, scored eight points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds over a career-best 26 minutes. McKissic had nine points and four assists, with fifth-year senior forward Anthony Duruji posting seven points and eight rebounds. The early developments favored the Gators, what with 2021 All-SEC point guard and league-leading scorer Scotty Pippen Jr. hit with his second foul at the 14:38 mark of the first half. At the time, UF led by just two, but soon upped the margin to 10 with the Commodores' star on the bench. To Vandy's credit, it outplayed the home team the rest of the period, as UF had a stretch of 10 misses in 11 shots, and the Commodores scored the half's last two field goals over the final 33 seconds to trail just 31-28 at the break. When play resumed after the break, things got out of hand quickly, as Florida outscored Vanderbilt 30-14 in the second half, as the Commodores combined to make just three of 22 shots -- that's 13.6 percent -- and missed all nine of their 3-point tries. Their last field goal of the game came with 10:47 to go.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Don't discount what this game (as well as the last) did for Jitoboh's confidence as UF navigates life without Castleton, however long that might last. The 6-foot-11, 285-pound Jitoboh, who has lost in the neighborhood of 50 pounds over the last seven months, hit three of his four field-goal tries and came one bucket shy of a double-double.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: Pippen went 1-for-10 from the floor, 1-for-6 from the 3-point line, and finished with just six points. That's the lowest point total for the junior since he being held to a career-low two points against Ole Miss on March 3, 2021, a run of 20 games. It was just the second single-digit scoring game in the last 49 for the son of the Hall-of-Famer of the same name, dating to late in his 2019-20 freshman season.
UP NEXT: Florida (12-6, 3-3) heads to the second leg of a demanding stretch of four games over eight days. The Gators will practice Sunday afternoon then leave town Sunday night, fly to Tupelo, Miss., then bus to Oxford for Monday night's game against Ole Miss (9-8, 1-4 heading into Saturday afternoon's road game at rival Mississippi State). After that game, UF will stick around town Tuesday, practice locally, then fly to Knoxville for Wednesday night's game against Tennessee. The Gators will be back home early Thursday morning and turn their attention toward next Saturday's home game against Oklahoma State (which beat reigning NCAA champion Baylor on the road last weekend, by the way) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
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