From start to finish Florida controlled the game against Vanderbilt and cruised to a 71-55 win for its first victory in Memorial Gym since 2014 to push its winning streak to five.
Andrew Nembhard led the Gators in scoring with 19 points on 7-8 shooting (3-3 from deep) and Jalen Hudson threw in 14 points off the bench on 5-13 shooting while big-man Kevarrius Hayes dropped 14 on 5-5 shooting (4-4 from the line).
In a game in which KeVaughn Allen (6 points), Noah Locke (5 points) and Keyontae Johnson (6 points) were off, the Gators were able to find a way to take care of business and dominated Vanderbilt.
As a team Florida shot a very sold 48 percent from the floor (24-50) and 42 percent from deep (8-19), but maybe most importantly hit 15 of 16 free throws and scored 17 points off 14 Vandy turnovers.
Florida jumped out quickly against Vandy by being the aggressor on both offense and defense. Nembhard also helped by throwing in seven of Florida’s first nine points.
The Gators led 9-5 with 15:43 left in the half and the good fortune would only go up. Hudson made his presence known by hitting a deep three on one possession and slamming the next one home for a 5-0 run of his own with 13:47 left to push the lead to 17-8.
With just under 12 to play the Gators were up 20-8 amidst an 8-0 run and were shooting a rare 64 percent from the floor.
Their defense was also humming. A major part of Florida’s shooting success was due to their ability to create turnovers. In the first half alone the Gators found 14 points off eight takeaways from the Commodores.
Vanderbilt wouldn’t just roll over though. With around five minutes remaining in the half they went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the lead to seven and looked to be taking the momentum away from the Gators.
Unfortunately, that’s when Allen decided to hit his first field goal on a triple to push the lead back to double digits. Isaiah Stokes and Hudson would close out the half as the Gators went into the break up 41-29.
The second half began right where the first left off and Florida extended its lead to 17 two minutes in. However, both teams would go into a bit of a slump over the next few minutes.
That was until Nembhard hit on a three with 14:50 remaining in the game to stay perfect at this point in the game with 15 points and if you were wondering the defense was still solid, forcing Vanderbilt into a four-minute drought that saw nothing but turnovers (4) for them and an 18-point deficit.
With 14 minutes remaining though the Commodores would show some life with a 9-2 run led by Clevon Brown and Saban Lee to close the gap to 11 with 11:13 left. Vandy’s good fortune would continue for about one more minute, but it faded almost as quickly as it arrived.
They went on a 3:31 scoring drought while the Gators found their stroke again behind some clutch free throws from Hayes and buckets from Hudson and Nembhard to balloon the lead back up to 18 with six minutes left.
Florida would eventually extend the lead to its highest point at 21 with 1:24 left en route to the road win.
With 18:55 left in the first half Nembhard hit his first of three triples of the night and the Gators never gave up the lead. They never trailed throughout this dominating performance and controlled the entire game in an arena they haven’t tasted victory in five years.
The Gators have found success during this winning streak by making a major jump on offense. Over the last three weeks they have jumped 40 spots in terms of offensive efficiency in the country.
Next up, they will take on Georgia Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.
