Vanderbilt 88, Florida 72 Memorial Gymnasium | Nashville, Tenn.
Records: Florida 14-15 (7-9 SEC) | Vanderbilt 16-13 (9-7 SEC) Next up: at Georgia, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Notable
* Riley Kugel led the Gators with 20 points, becoming the first Florida freshman since Kenny Boynton (2009-10) to post back-to-back 20-point games as he's coming off a 24-point outing vs. Kentucky.
* Kugel is averaging 17.7 points over the last six games.
* Kyle Lofton added 15 points, matching a season high with three 3-pointers. During Saturday's game, Lofton surpassed Jordan Bohannon for #2 most career minutes played this century. Lofton has logged 5,289 minutes over his five collegiate seasons.
* Will Richard scored all nine of his points in the second half and grabbed a team-leading seven rebounds.
Head Coach Todd Golden On the game...
"Vandy is playing really well offensively. They've been playing really well offensively since the beginning of conference play. They're one of the only teams all year that we haven't been able to keep off the three-point line. That continued to be an issue for us today, didn't do a good enough job there. We put ourselves in a tough spot, but continued to dig though. Thought our guys battled really hard in the second half. We cut it to eight with about four minutes to go, and had some opportunities at the foul line to cut it down even more. Looked a little fatigued, left some short that we normally knock down, and then [Liam] Robbins hit a dagger three that kind of iced the game for them. Obviously it's a tough time, but appreciate our guys and the way they've continued to bring a great attitude. I feel like they're trying, they're working hard, we're just falling a little short right now."
On Liam Robbins...
"He's really good. He's physical, good finisher around the rim, has good touch, makes his free throws generally even though he didn't do a great job there today. The way his three-point shooting has come on has been really big addition to his game. He's one of the best rebounders in the country and rim protectors. He's playing like one of the best players in America right now."
On the team's mentality dealing with recent losses...
"We obviously want to win games, we aren't OK with losing, not acceptable. With that being said, the only way to get better and improve and give yourself a great chance is by being consistent and still working hard every day. Still maintaining a great attitude and holding yourself to a high standard of accountability to not let yourself off the hook. It's easy when times are hard to fracture and point fingers and start and try to place blame. That's not our program. That's not what we're about. As we try to get this program back to a championship level, it's more staying the course, sticking together. Our best chance is by making each other better. Tighten that up, and like I said be consistent and making sure as take some time tomorrow and come back on Monday and have a great practice and not let ourselves off the hook the rest of the way."
Grad G Kyle Lofton On his takeaway from the game...
"I felt like we were trying to score with them. A team like ours, now, we've got to have ugly wins. We have to figure it out on the defensive end. We're not going to outscore anyone. We can't go back and forth. It started like the first time we played them. They were scoring, we were scoring, they were scoring. We've got to get stops."
On Vanderbilt being tough to guard because they can shoot 3's and drive...
"Yeah, because they have a good big guy inside. They run a lot of sets. A lot of false-ball actions, staggers and flare screens. They're definitely hard to guard and you have to be locked in to guard them."
On Liam Robbins being a tough assignment for Jason Jitoboh and Aleks Szymczyk...
"Especially Aleks. He hadn't played much. He's a freshman. He's still learning. I think Jason did well. He didn't play too much, but when he was out there he did well. I didn't think Robbins killed us like he did that first game, but he did have a lot rebounds and that's just something - rebounding - we have to do better as a team."
