If you’re the kind of person that likes to see 20 made threes and 170 combined points in a game, the Gators’ game against Vanderbilt on Saturday probably made you want to puke.
The two teams combined to miss 69 shots, shoot 22 percent from deep and miss half of their free throws. Both teams went through some extended droughts where it felt like they couldn’t hit the broad sign of a barn from inside of the barn.
The Gators had a bad day offensively. Vanderbilt had an atrocious one. In the end, that was the difference in the game. Florida won 61-42 to get back to .500 in conference play after an 0-3 start.
The Commodores’ final statistics don’t even seem believable. They shot just 29 percent for the game. They only made three field goals in the second half and none in the final 10:47. They had almost as many turnovers (12) as made field goals (13). They only scored 14 points in the second half, and three of them came in the last two minutes. Nobody scored more than seven points.
Vanderbilt’s 42 total points were the second-fewest that the Gators have allowed in an SEC game under coach Mike White.
The Gators (12-6, 3-3 SEC) deserve a ton of credit for the way that they guarded, but Vanderbilt also missed a bunch of open shots that you’d expect an SEC team to make.
“Team effort,” White said. “The particular emphasis was how good they are, nothing schematically. We didn’t do anything special. We’ve got good defensive guards. Our bigs were really locked into their ball-screen coverage. It’s about the collection of the five guys out there and how connected they are.
“Probably most of all just the respect our guys have for how good Vandy is and how good Scotty Pippen Jr. is. I can’t imagine he goes 1-for-10 another time in his collegiate career. He missed some for us. He got in early foul trouble. That’s not him. That’s not them. I think they’re the most improved team in our league. I think they’re very good, and they missed some open ones for us.”
The Gators shot a relatively robust 38 percent from the field, and they made nine of 36 three-point shots. They only turned it over eight times and scored 23 points off of turnovers. They also converted 16 offensive rebounds into 20 points.
They weren’t good on the offensive end, but they were opportunistic.
Vanderbilt (10-8, 2-4) seemed to be in a pretty good spot at halftime. Florida led 31-28, but Pippen, who makes everything go for them at both ends, was limited to just five minutes due to foul trouble.
Despite not having one of the best players in the conference for most of the first half, the Commodores were only down one possession at the break after making the final two buckets of the period.
With a fresh Pippen ready to go and likely to get hot at some point, it felt like an all-out war was about to break out in the second half.
Instead, the Gators were the only ones who came out hot. They scored the first 12 points of the half and 19 of the first 23.
“Our mentality during halftime was to come out and take away their confidence early,” said center Jason Jitoboh, who made his second consecutive start in place of an injured Colin Castleton. “We knew that if we did what we’re supposed to do that we would’ve been up 15. So, we just came out and did that.”
Jitoboh started the onslaught with an offensive rebound, a putback and a foul for a three-point play. The next possession looked very similar, with Jitoboh cleaning up a Kowacie Reeves miss and laying it in.
On their next trip down, Fleming threw down a dunk on an inbounds pass from Brandon McKissic. That made the score 38-28. Vanderbilt called a timeout after Anthony Duruji scored a layup on their next possession to try to stop the momentum.
It didn’t work.
McKissic stole the ball away and then buried a three 16 seconds later to make it a 15-point game. The lead eventually swelled to as large as 21 points, and the Gators cruised from there.
The Gators said that the key to their game-sealing run was the way that they cranked up their defensive intensity. While their defensive numbers were great in the first half, they feel like that had more to do with Vanderbilt missing open shots than anything that they did.
That wasn’t the case in the second half. They dominated, and it led to the lopsided final score.
“I liked our looks offensively and the way it moved, but, defensively, I thought we had some breakdowns, and I thought that they had missed several open ones in the first half,” White said. “We could’ve gone into the locker room down five or seven easily. I thought our guys were just really sharp.
“It wasn’t as much about what they were saying; it was action. We just came out early second half, and our guys just collected some stops, in a stance. You could hear some communication from the other end. I thought it was pretty sharp [and] loud early. Pretty good defensive effort.”
White also thinks that Castleton’s absence has forced the rest of the team to lock in even more on defense. If they get beat off of the dribble or allow their man to cut past them, they’re not going to have one of the best shot-blockers in the SEC back there to bail them out anymore.
“I think the urgency’s increased with these other guys, and it obviously needed to increase knowing Colin is not back there to clean up as many mistakes,” he said. “I do feel like we’re embracing the fact that we’ve got to be really tight and we’ve got less margin for error defensively. We’ve got to be really connected.”
Tyree Appleby was the only player on either team to reach double figures with 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished three assists and made four steals.
Jitoboh came up just short of his first career double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Duruji had seven points and eight rebounds, while McKissic had nine points and four assists.
Pippen never did get it going, finishing with just five points. McKissic was a big reason why. He drew the primary assignment of guarding him and didn’t make anything easy for the future All-SEC and NBA player.
“Pride,” McKissic said of the key to his success against Pippen. “Just have pride in yourself. You’re not going to just allow a person to score. That’s against my heart. I can’t allow that to happen, regardless of if I’m going to foul. You’ve just got to play hard.”
Jordan Wright tied for the team lead with seven points, and he also notched seven rebounds and three steals. Quentin Millora-Brown contributed six points and eight rebounds.
It wasn’t a pretty win by any means, but, with the Gators being offensively limited without Castleton or great three-point shooters, this is going to be how they have to win sometimes.
The Gators will look to take their recommitment to the defensive end of the floor to an even higher level when they battle Ole Miss on Monday.
“You guys are seeing what we are capable of and our ceiling,” McKissic said. “We’ve been really looking at our identity the past few games, and that’s what we’ve been emphasizing in the locker room – just be us to the fullest and max out. That’s what we’re working toward, and this is what we’re trying to show you guys. We are a defensive team.”