The Commodores beat No. 1 seed Florida convincingly Saturday and advanced to the SEC Championship Game.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Confidence poured out of Vanderbilt as Commodores’ guard Duke Miles dribbled the clock out for what ended up being a shot clock violation that left just eight seconds for Florida. In the statbook, it is a turnover.
But it did not matter. The only thing that mattered in the moment was the scoreboard reading that Vanderbilt took down the No. 1 seed Gators in dominating fashion. It was the second time the two schools played each other this season. The first time around, Vanderbilt fell just short of what would have been a monumental win early in conference play, losing 98-94. This time, it was a much different result. Vanderbilt did not just beat Florida, the Commodores bullied the Gators in a way that college basketball fans have not seen Florida lose this season before. On both sides of the ball, it felt and looked like the most complete game that Vanderbilt has played this season. Whether it was hitting shots at a 54 percent clip or playing sound defensively, Vanderbilt used a 11-0 run that put them up nine points before continuing to extend its lead the rest of the game.“It wasn’t really anything we didn’t know before. It was just a matter of executing. Their front court is a problem. Condon, Chinyelu and Haugh are all big, physical guys that play really hard. So getting them off the glass and just being the tougher team I thought,” Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel said postgame. “This is two days in a row where we played big, physical teams and we were the tougher team.” Last time, Florida’s physicality may not have totally overwhelmed Vanderbilt, but it did cause the Commodores some fits. But that was two months ago. Down the stretch of the season, Vanderbilt continuously matched the physicality of its opponents. With two games against Tennessee leading into Saturday, Vanderbilt was used to physical teams. After all, Tennessee has been among one of the best teams in the country at rebounding and playing physical. Saturday, that experience Vanderbilt had gained through playing physical teams throughout the season paid off. Despite the rebound disparity, Vanderbilt visibly matched Florida’s physicality through its defense. Though Florida hit six of its first nine shots to start the game, Vanderbilt quickly locked up the Gators on defense. Whether it was Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles combining for six steals or players like Jalen Washington and Devin McGlockton defending Florida’s versatile bigs in the paint well, the Commodores played much better defensively against a Florida team that had not lost since Jan. 24. “There actually was not that much of a difference that we added. We knew they were going to be physical, but we just played a physical team in Tennessee. We kind of knew if we went out there and played defense and brought the physicality that we would have a good chance to win this game,” McGlockton said. So did the experience of playing Tennessee the day before help Vanderbilt in preparation for Florida? “Yeah, it really helped. We didn’t have that many adjustments because the bigs for Florida and Tennessee are both physical, so it was an easy adjustment for us,” McGlockton said. Florida finished the game shooting just 45 percent from the floor and just 29 percent from the three-point line. Vanderbilt had its best game of the season and it resulted in its best win of the season by far. For Vanderbilt to come away with a win against one of the biggest teams in the country despite giving up plenty of second chance oppotunties says a lot about Vanderbilt's defense overall and how tough and competitive the team as a whole is. "These guys are tough. We have versatility. We can go to bigger lineup, AK Okereke at the small forward and play two bigs together. The two teams we just played, there might be more, but I doubt there's any more physical, size on the inside than these two teams," Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. "We stood our ground. I think there was some room for improvement there. But the fight was there. All those guys really fought for rebounds, fought for possessions. They competed. So even if we came up short a little bit, sometimes the second effort made up for it."Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.Vanderbilt vs. Texas Prediction, Odds and Key Players to Watch for Wednesday, Jan. 14
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