NASHVILLE, Tenn. –With a swashbuckling coach, loaded line-up and 13-game winning streak, the Florida basketball program had been surging into the national championship picture as a potential repeat winner the past six weeks.
The Gators’ freewheeling dash and attempt to repeat as SEC tournament champions hit a speed bump Saturday afternoon in the SEC tournament. No. 4-seed Vanderbilt dominated the Gators, with the tenor of the 91-74 victory making it one of the tournament’s most surprising results.
As Florida’s streaked through February and early March, they appeared poised to clinch a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Both the loss and flat performance may reinvigorate that debate, as the Gators fall to 26-7. Vanderbilt led by as many as 25 points and Florida led for just 70 seconds.
Committee chair Dan Gavitt mentioned on CBS on Saturday that three teams are in contention for the fourth No. 1, presumably Florida, Houston and UConn. Florida’s loss will put more focus on UConn’s Big East title against St. John’s game tonight and Houston’s Big 12 title game against Arizona.
For Vanderbilt, the thumping of the Florida looms as the biggest victory in the two-year tenure of coach Mark Byington. Vanderbilt made the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed last year, losing to St. Mary’s in the first round.
Vanderbilt spread out the Gators and diced them up, shooting 10-of-21 from 3-point range. Vanderbilt sophomore Tyler Tanner was the best player on the floor, as he scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added eight assists. He was one of five Commodores in double-figures, as Jalen Washington added 17 points and Duke Miles had 15.
Vanderbilt finished with 21 assists and just eight turnovers, a study in spacing and sharing the ball.
Vanderbilt improves to 26-7, and they’d entered the game projected as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. They enter Sunday’s game against the winner of Arkansas and Ole Miss with the chance to win the SEC tournament for the first time since 2012.
That could come, perhaps, with a bump to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Regardless, Vanderbilt is in strong position for the program’s first NCAA tournament win since 2012 under Kevin Stallings. Both Bryce Drew and Jerry Stackhouse failed to win an NCAA game at Vanderbilt during their tenures, a dry spell Byington appears poised to end.
The day’s most memorable play came midway through the second half when Vanderbilt’s Chandler Bing dunked the ball so hard that it prompted an equipment malfunction in the basket. Referees explained that a washer fell from the basket, and the moment led to a brief delay in the game that allowed Vanderbilt’s dominance to settle in to a crowd that had a distinct Vandy flavor here in Nashville.
Florida coach Todd Golden, known for his sideline theatrics, got so frustrated that he earned a technical foul from officials in the second half.
One season after winning the SEC tournament on the way to the national title, the Gators will have some uncertainty on their seeding as they head into Selection Sunday.
