ChompTalk.com

The final day of the SEC regular season was shaping up to be just like the rest of the season had been for the Florida Gators (21-10, 11-7 SEC).

They had exceeded all expectations, and were expected to continue their momentum fresh off a win against Alabama as they traveled to face the Vanderbilt Commodores (9-23, 4-14 SEC).

What did occur, however, was quite possibly the Gators worst loss of the season, as they were narrowly defeated 79-78.

The loss clinches the Gators the No. 6 seed in the SEC tournament, which begins March 13.

The Gators were their usual selves on offense, shooting 30-58 from the field, while limiting the Commodores to 27-76 from the field in the matchup.

However, the Gators were defeated in uncharacteristic ways. Florida, the second best offensive rebounding team in the nation, lost the offensive rebound battle 20 to six.

The Gators also had double the turnovers of the Commodores, racking up 16 turnovers while Vanderbilt only turned it over eight times.

One of those turnovers came on the last play of the game, where junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. lost control of his dribble, and the Commodores stole the ball and the win.

Clayton shot four for 14 in the game, including three for nine from beyond the arc. He finished with 14 points.

Florida’s leading scorer was senior guard Zyon Pullin, who had 20. Senior forward Tyrese Samuel also was a main contributor on offense with 16 points.

For the Commodores, sophomore forward Ven-Allen Lubin could not be contained, scoring 25 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Vanderbilt senior guard Tyrin Lawrence was the other double-digit scorer for the Commodores, scoring 14 points, including the go-ahead layup with 14 seconds remaining in the matchup.

The Gators will now await the second game of the SEC tournament between the undetermined No. 11 seed, and No. 14 seed Missouri to see who they will face in the second round.

That matchup between the winner of Wednesday’s game and the Gators will take place at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night.