Florida Loses Composure In SEC Semifinal Loss To Vanderbilt

Florida’s SEC Tournament hopes were dashed on Saturday as they got blitzed from the jump by the Vanderbilt Commodores from the jump and never could recover, falling by a score of 91-74. Much of the Gators’ regular season was them dominating their opponent and winning by a lopsided score, and perhaps the lack of adversity and close games came to bite them in this semifinal contest as once Vanderbilt started building the lead the Gators let their frustrations show, making confused plays with the ball, unfocused errors on defense, and lazy fouls that only fueled the Commodore attack. Entering this game it was clear the Gators had a huge size advantage on the inside on that it could be a defining matchup. Florida had a whopping 20 offensive rebounds to Vanderbilt’s 8, and if you would have said that before the game you would have thought the Gators were victorious. However, Vanderbilt was able to dominate just about every category, putting together an incredible performance and one that will likely vault them up a seedline in the NCAA Tournament.


Battle Of The Backcourt

For the last decade and a half college basketball has been talked about as a “guards game” and while that seems to have changed a bit as top teams like Florida have tilted things towards supersized frontcourt dominating there are times that the better backcourt determines the game and that’s exactly what happened in this one. Tyler Tanner and Duke Miles, one of the best backcourts in the country, was surgical on both ends of the floor, controlling tempo and finding teammates for open looks seemingly every time down the floor combining for 35 points and 15 assists while also making things difficult for the Gators on the other end with 6 combined steals. Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee couldn’t get much going against the quick hands and feet of the Vanderbilt guards and it resulted in a slog for the Gators offensively, and Fland was not his typical self on the defensive end where he was beaten cleanly on a number of possessions. Luckily for the Gators there aren’t many backcourts in the country like Vanderbilt’s, as getting dominated in that positional matchup looks like the key to beating them.


Trouble With The Pop

As you can see from the final score, Vanderbilt was excellent on the offensive end putting up 91 points while shooting 55% from the field and turning the ball over 8 times, of which many came in garbage time. There was one play that they continued to run over, and over, and over again that the Gators struggled with and never adjusted to–the pick and pop. Vanderbilt does not have typical athletic centers who set ball screens looking to roll and catch a lob, they have smaller forwards who are looking to pick and pop to either the three-point line or short roll to the mid-post. Now, Florida, on the other hand, is a team that guards the pick and roll by dropping their big down into the paint. This coverage protects against drives from guards and takes away catch and shoot attempts on the wing as those players can stay home, but it is vulnerable to the pick and pop. Vanderbilt clearly came in with a plan to pick and pop as much as possible, and with a hot shooting performance from their forwards started raining down threes which was the difference in this game. Florida’s coaching staff is one that is very steadfast in their ways and believes in their scheme and what they are willing to give up, so even as these pick and pops were hurting them no changes were made. It was a calculated risk by Florida, and on this day it did not work out.

Going Cold

Florida’s offense did not look crisp against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals and they followed it up with another scrambled performance against Vanderbilt shooting 46% from the field and 29% from three while turning it over 14 times. Even with a clear advantage on the inside it never felt like the Gators were able to take advantage of these mismatches, and every time there was a drive the spacing was way off and guards and wings were driving right into a clogged floor. This isn’t the first time Florida’s offense has been off and most of the time they make up for those issues with the offense rebound, but even though they got 20 of those it wasn’t enough to make up for just how difficult things were offensively. Add in the lack of composure when things started going the wrong way, and the Gators started forcing up ugly shots and trying difficult, low percentage passes. Now that the Gators have an extra day to prepare for the NCAA Tournament, their focus should clearly be on the offensive end.


Final Thoughts

After dominating the regular season it’s unfortunate for the Gators that they won’t be able to compete for an SEC Tournament Championship but they ran into a Vanderbilt team that played an absolutely stellar game. The Commodores did a much better job of leveraging their advantage (the backcourt) than Florida did (their frontcourt), and they also seemed to be much more composed once the intensity started heating up. In game 33 of the season there isn’t anything new to be learned about the Gators, but postseason play always has a way of spotlighting both strengths and weaknesses and Florida’s halfcourt offensive struggles were on full display once again. They’ll hope to learn some lessons as they prepare for Selection Sunday when they find out their opponent.