After surviving an ugly game with Kentucky in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals the Gators got to the hotel to await their next opponent, and as the final buzzer of the second game of the day finished it was the Vanderbilt Commodores defeating the Tennessee Volunteers to earn a date with Florida.
Thinking about the regular season meeting between these two teams is an exercise in realizing just how long the college basketball season can feel. It seems like an eternity ago that the Gators and Commodores were battling for first place in the league with the game tipping off on January 17th in Memorial Gym, and it didn’t disappoint. Both teams traded shots and offensive runs, with the Gators having one of their best late game execution games of the season to come away with a 98-94 win. Since then the Commodores cooled off a bit from their torrent pace through the non-conference season and finished the regular season as the 4-seed which speaks to just how excellent a year it has been in Nashville. To earn a spot in the semifinals Vanderbilt also got to watch the first round having earned a double-bye, and took down in-state rival Tennessee.
For the Gators, this game went about as good as it possibly could have. For forty minutes the game was within a few possessions, with every second being hard-fought and loaded with intensity, like a journey of all city miles with no cruising on the freeway. Playing essentially an 8-man rotation, everyone for Vanderbilt had to play a lot of minutes, and there is even a situation to monitor with a very key player after a scary moment late. In the final minutes an awkward play saw a Volunteer fall awkwardly on the leg of AK Okereke, a key starting forward who is behind a lot of Vanderbilt’s defensive success. He ended up leaving the game and not returning–though because it was so late and essentially a free throw contest it’s unknown at the moment if this was due to the injury or because he wasn’t needed in the final minutes. Vanderbilt is already extremely undersized in the frontcourt and Okereke plays much bigger than his 6’7” and brings an incredible amount of toughness to the rotation, and without him the Commodores wouldn’t have much of a chance matching up with Florida’s frontcourt. This is a very important injury situation to monitor.
Vanderbilt’s smaller frontcourt is a storyline you might remember from when the Gators played them earlier in the season, or just if you turned on one of their games at any point of the season. Their starting frontcourt is 6’7” AK Okereke and 6’7” Devin McGlockton, both players who work incredibly hard to make up for the lack of length, but ultimately there is only so much that effort and toughness can do. 6’10” Jalen Washington is a bench piece with nice size, but if there was no Okereke due to injury and Vanderbilt was down to two frontcourt players they would be in a terrible bind when it comes to matchup up with Florida’s supersized forwards.
Even fully healthy, matching up with Florida in the frontcourt is a challenge. The battle in and around the rim was the biggest reason the Gators won the regular season matchup as they won the battle offensively in the paint, defensively in the paint, and when it came to rebounding. The undersized Vanderbilt front line did well to make it so the paint battle wasn’t lopsided but ultimately it was still a definitive Florida win on the inside, and in a 4-point game that clear victory played an outsized role. Entering this SEC semifinals matchup, it’s hard not to look at this as the biggest advantage one team will have.
Where Vanderbilt has a clear edge is in the backcourt, particularly with stud point guards Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles, who both play together but both who still clearly need to be considered point guards for their ball handling, vision, and playmaking. Throughout the season it was Tanner who probably earned more defensive attention due to his explosive finishes around the rim and tremendous shot making, but Duke Miles has also had some massive performances that make him one of the most underrated players in the country. This was on display against Tennessee where he had 30 points and 4 assists, taking advantage of every time he touched the ball. Against Florida Tanner finished with 20 points and 5 assists while Miles had 15 points and 4 assists so both played well, and it seemed like whoever wasn’t being guarded by Boogie Fland had a chance to make things happen put Florida’s defense in conflict. It will be interesting to see who the Gators have Fland defending to start Saturday’s game, as it will pretty clearly signal who they think is the more dangerous player.
With the win over Kentucky the Gators sealed a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament no matter what, so from here it’s all about an SEC Tournament banner. Entering Friday’s action Vanderbilt was somewhere on the line between a 4 and 5-seed, and with the win over Tennessee they are probably on the 4-line but they’d love to leave no doubt with a huge win over the Gators.
It will be a fascinating matchup between a team with a frontcourt advantage and a team with a backcourt advantage, and with how good the regular season matchup was this could be yet another classic.
Florida and Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament semifinals will tip off Saturday, March 14th at 1 PM ET and it will be televised on ESPN.
Florida Gators forward Alex Condon #21 flies toward the basket during the first half as the #5 ranked Florida Gators mens basketball team defeats the Texas Longhorns 84-60 at Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida. January 18th, 2025. Gator Country Photo by David Bowie.