Scotty Pippen set a new career-high with 32 points on Billy Donovan Court Wednesday night, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Commodores to an upset win over the Gators as Florida came away with a 78-71 final victory.
The story of the first half was Florida’s flaming hot hand from beyond the three-point line. The Gators made seven of their first 11 shots from range, including a pair of threes from both Tre Mann and Noah Locke. Mann recorded two fouls in the first five minutes and was forced to sit the remainder of the half but not before knocking down a pair of deep shots.
Scottie Lewis, who hadn’t played since a Jan. 9 loss, came into the game as Mann sat and provided an immediate spark, scoring 10 points on six shots in his first nine minutes of action in two weeks.
Scotty Pippen Jr., who averaged 20.6 points per game coming in, was not just the engine of Vanderbilt’s offense in the first half, he was the entire car. He either directly scored or assisted 22 of the Commodores’ 29 first-half points. No one else from Vanderbilt had more than four points, however, and after a final Pippen shot fell empty to the court, the Gators went to the locker room with a 37-29 advantage.
The Gators, who didn’t shoot a free throw in the first half, kept the hot play going in the second half, starting the final twenty minutes on an 18-6 run. Mann had nine points in the second-half, finally free of foul trouble, on his way to leading Florida in scoring for the second straight game.
Colin Castleton, who had his breakout 23-point game in the SEC opener against the same Vanderbilt team last month, was kept scoreless in the first half but had 12 points on six-of-seven shooting. The Gators opened up a 22-point lead with 9:56 left in the game, a seemingly comfortable advantage to just coast to the final buzzer.
Vanderbilt would not lose quietly, however. Dylan Disu scored seven straight points, part of 14 second-half points, to begin to cut into the margin before Pippen came alive again. Vanderbilt’s star scorer made three late baskets, including a huge three to bring the Commodores as close as four points away in the final two minutes before a wild Disu pass out of bounds and some late Florida free throws solidified the final seven-point margin. Pippen and Disu, who finished with 18 points of his own, combined for 50 of Vanderbilt’s 71 points.
Florida finished with five players in double-digits, including Locke, Mann, Castleton, Lewis and a 12-point performance from Tyree Appleby, and shot 52% (28-52) from the floor and 43% (10-23) from range, although only three of the Gators final twelve three-point attempts found home. The Gators, one of the best blocking teams in the country, tallied five more swats tonight.
Vanderbilt won the rebounding battle, 35-29, and dwarfed Florida in second-chance points, 14 to two, two areas that kept the Commodores in the game much later than coach Mike White would have liked.
The Gators, who are now 9-4 on the year and 6-4 in conference after winning three of their last four games. They take the court Saturday against No. 14 West Virginia as a part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.