Can No. 6 Florida basketball regroup at home? Scouting report, prediction for UF vs Vanderbilt

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After a disheartening loss at No. 4 Tennessee, No. 6 Florida basketball will get another challenge within the conference when it hosts Vanderbilt on Tuesday night at the O’Connell Center (7 p.m., SEC Network).

The Florida Gators (18-3, 4-3 SEC) didn’t do much well in their loss to the Vols as they were held to a season-low 44 points on 24.5% shooting from the floor and 14.8% shooting from 3-point range (4-for-27). Quality shots were hard to come by as UT clamped down on UF all afternoon.

“Tennessee played with really, really, a lot of grit in terms of their mentality and the way they wanted to control the game,” Golden said. “It’s been an area that we’ve been able to do most of most of our contests this year: control and dictate what goes on out there. And we just weren’t able to on Saturday.”

Vanderbilt (16-5, 4-4 SEC) has emerged as one of the surprise teams in the SEC under first-year coach Mark Byington, who was hired last spring after leading James Madison to the NCAA Tournament last season. The Commodores have pulled off upset wins over No. 4 Tennessee and No. 14 Kentucky this season.

“We have a lot of respect for Vanderbilt,” Golden said. “We have a lot of respect for Coach Byington. One of our staff members, Jordan Talley, worked with him at JMU. You know, I respect him a lot because we had similar paths of getting to the league, you know, working at a mid-major program and having some success and being able to come to the SEC, and they run good stuff.”

Here are three storylines to watch for UF entering the matchup with the Commodores:

How will Florida basketball play if starting point guard Walter Clayton Jr. is out or limited?

Clayton (17.4 ppg. 3.8 apg) turned his ankle late in the first half in UF’s loss at Tennessee and played hobbled through the second half. He’s questionable for Tuesday night’s game at Vanderbilt. If Clayton can’t go or is at less than 100%, it could mean more playing time for junior guard Denzel Aberdeen (7.1 ppg, 1.6 apg), sophomore guard Urban…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-6-florida-basketball-regroup-224144108.html

Author : The Gainesville Sun

Publish date : 2025-02-03 22:41:00

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