GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It was an ugly game, but at this point in the season a W is all that matters, and the Gators were able to pull one out Wednesday night against Vanderbilt 66-57 thanks to some clutch free throws and points from the bench.
“It was big,” Gators head coach Mike White said of pulling out the victory. “those are the types of plays you need to make down the stretch to win close games and we haven’t always done that.
“Not that we were great offensively, but we made enough of those plays defensively. We defended without fouling at a higher level down the stretch as well. Our communication was on point for the most part.”
Keyontae Johnson led the way for the Gators Wednesday with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Jalen Hudson was the only other Gator in double figures with 10 points on 2-7 shooting but went 6-8 from the free throw line.
Unfortunately, Florida’s leading scorers this season, KeVaughn Allen and Noah Locke failed to find their stroke as they combined for just nine points on 2-19 shooting against the Commodores.
That forced others to step up. Isaiah Stokes had one of his best games as a Gator as he finished with eight points on 2-5 shooting and Andrew Nembhard dropped nine points in just 16 minutes on 4-5 shooting.
By the end of the game Florida’s bench had outscored Vanderbilt’s 29-7 en route to the victory.
“Yeah it was really big,” Hudson said of the bench. “Everybody has to do their part and that showed tonight.”
Before the game began it seemed like Florida had some newfound energy during pregame, but that quickly faded as the game started.
The first few minutes were sloppy on both sides as Florida and Vanderbilt combined to turn the ball over five times in the first few minutes. By the under-16 media timeout there was a combined four shots made and the Gators held a slim 5-4 lead.
Eventually Florida would find some more success by way of the deep shot from Deaundrae Ballard and Noah Locke and a great defensive effort. With 11:21 left in the half Vanderbilt only had six total points.
That trend would continue as the Gators maintained control and extending their lead to 20-12 with seven and a half to play in the first while the Commodores couldn’t find much footing, going on a nearly four minute drought.
Eventually though the Gators were going to hit that wall they can't seem to escape, and with six minutes remaining Vandy went on a quick 5-0 run to pull within five, and for the rest of the half would continue to take control, closing on a 19-9 run to take a slight 33-31 lead into the half.
The second half started much better for White’s squad as they jumped out with an 8-0 run and retook the lead 39-33 with 16:35 remaining.
Vanderbilt would then consistently creep back into it over the next few minutes, but couldn’t generate enough stops to take the lead back. Neither team were shooting well either as both were under 38 percent with under twelve minutes remaining and the game started to become stagnant.
As the game wore down though Florida was forced to turn to unfamiliar areas for their offense. Allen and Locke were struggling to find points so guys like Stokes, Nembhard and Hudson had to take on the burden of finding points.
The guy that stood out the most though was Johnson. With 2:11 remaining Vanderbilt’s Clevon Brown made a couple free throws to cut the lead back down to five and Allen missed a three. It looked like the Gators were going to fall apart once again down the stretch as the Commodores gained some momentum.
After a rebound by Matt Ryan though, Johnson stole the ball back for the Gators, was hit, went to the line and hit both free throws. That extended the lead back to seven and the Gators never looked back.
“We got stops down the stretch for the most part,” White said. I know we got lucky on a couple of missed threes with (Vanderbilt’s) initial push, got a few defensive rebounds, we were just fortunate.”
“(Johnson) converting at the foul line was big. KeVaughn drew a couple of fouls down the stretch, he’s going to convert of course, but it was nice to see a freshman complete it at the foul line.”
Florida was able to hang on to the lead down the stretch Wednesday thanks to their ability to hit free throws. As a team they finished 23-28 (82%) from the charity stripe against Vanderbilt.
After a jumper by Hudson with just under four minutes remaining the Gators would only convert on one field goal for the remainder of the game, but would hit nine free throws to wind down the game and seal the victory.
“I knew we were hitting them,” Hudson said. It was definitely big for us tonight. It was hard for us to hit open shots tonight. Even some of the contested shots that we usually make weren’t hitting. So, getting to the free throw linen when the clock stopped was huge.
It wasn’t a pretty win, but the Gators were able to close out a game in a fashion they had not been able to all season. Typically when Allen and Locke are off as bad as they were Wednesday they don’t stand a chance.
And although Vanderbilt is winless in conference and is on its worst losing streak since the 1934-35 season, a win is a win and the Gators closed it out.
“It’s a great performance,” Stokes said. I feel like we struggle with finding ways to win. The two big free throws Keyontae made late, senior Kevaughn Allen went 1-9 and hit one of the last shots in the last two minutes. That was big. Staying the course and playing defense.”
