After quick SEC Tournament ouster, Florida now awaits Selection Sunday

Following a 68-66 home loss to Vanderbilt on Jan. 21, Florida head coach Mike White admitted that his team was at a crossroads and needed to respond to a “fork in the road.”

The Gators then picked up the pace following a two-hour team meeting where players’ thoughts were made known and grievances were aired out. It proved to be a turning point, as Florida would go on to win its next nine games by an average margin of 20.9 points. During that streak, the Gators beat top-100 RPI teams in Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas A&M.

However, since a victory over the Gamecocks capped off that nine-game streak on Feb. 21, Florida has lost now three of its past four heading into the NCAA Tournament. Following a road defeat at the hands of Kentucky – Rupp Arena has typically presented a difficult environment for the Gators and most other teams to pick up a win at – Florida has lost its past two contests to Vanderbilt in Nashville in two different venues.

The latest was a 72-62 overtime loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday night, where the Gators were outscored at the start of overtime 12-1 and were inconsistent defending and shooting the three-ball.

“We're not just this dominant team that is just rolling through people,” White said after the loss. “In these, one-, two-, three-possession games, sometimes a poor decision or lack of discipline or what have you, the ball bouncing, going halfway down and coming back out, sometimes that's a factor. We had a few of those today as well. Sometimes it just comes down to that.

“Really hard-fought game. I thought both teams left it all out there on the floor. We had our opportunities that we just didn't take advantage of. Struggled offensively against a Vanderbilt team that's really defending at a high level, and I thought that we defended them at a pretty high level ourselves.”

Even though Florida’s shooting percentage from the field (34.4%) and downtown (26.1%) were both poor, White had plenty of praise to deliver to Vanderbilt’s squad, saying Bryce Drew’s team played “terrific” and that he believes Vandy is the most improved team in the league throughout the course of the season. He added that Friday night was “the best that we defended them this year outside of a handful of mistakes.”

Florida tinkered with a full-court press and matchup zone throughout its week of practice leading up to the Vanderbilt game - and while it worked for White's group at times Friday night, other times the communication between players wasn't effective enough, as the Commodores shot 11-of-27 (40.7%) from behind the arc.

Still, Friday night was the second straight game the Gators struggled defending a talented big man in Vanderbilt's Luke Kornet. After Kornet dropped 24 points and six rebounds in the March 4 meeting, he recorded a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in the quarterfinals.

"I think the last two games with our lack of interior production has a lot more to do with Luke Kornet than my bigs. I just do," White said. "The credit goes to that guy. He is something else defensively and obviously offensively as well when your entire scouting report resolves around how to defend a 7-1 guy that shoots it like a two-guard."

Regardless, Florida has struggled to defend talented frontcourt players since starting center John Egbunu went down with a torn ACL in the Auburn on Feb. 14. Before Kornet had two big games in Gators losses. Kentucky's Bam Adebayo logged 18 points and 15 rebounds in Lexington on Feb. 25.

Meanwhile, Kevarrius Hayes hasn't been incredibly effective in Egbunu's absence, averaging just five points and 6.3 rebounds over the past six The 6-foot-9, 218-pound Hayes isn't the same type of lane-clogger as the 6-foot-11, 255-pound Egbunu, and that's obviously evident.

Since starting the season 21-5, Florida is just 3-3 in its past six contests since losing Egbunu. If the Gators happen to face an opponent with an elite big in the NCAA Tournament, it could pose a significant challenge - considering how Florida's interior defense has taken a hit in Egbunu's absence.

However, Florida will hope it lands a favorable draw in its first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. A berth in Orlando is something White has admitted his team would favor, and it's a still very real possibility with Florida likely earning either a No. 5 or No. 4 seed on Sunday.

As of Saturday afternoon, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Florida pegged as a No. 5 seed playing in Orlando. CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm also has Florida as a No. 5 seed in Orlando in the West Region.

"We just got to be more focused on defense," sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen said. "Got to pay attention to the scouting report and just do better on the court."

Senior point guard Kasey Hill shared the same sentiment Friday night after the loss, saying he felt Florida hasn't lost momentum. But White rang a different tone - likely in an effort to light a fire under his team.

"I disagree with my guys," he said. "We obviously have lost momentum."

Well, the Gators will need to spark some up if they have hopes of a tournament run past next weekend.

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