NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Vanderbilt trailed from start to finish in a 71-55 loss to Florida at Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Florida guard Andrew Nembhard scored 19 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the field, leading UF to a fifth-straight win.
The Commodores extended their school record with a 16th consecutive loss. They’ve now 9-19 on the season, 0-15 in the Southeastern Conference.
Guard Saben Lee led Vandy with 15 points. Forwards Simi Shittu and Matt Moyer each added 10.
Vandy never got within single digits in the second half, and trailed by 21 late.
The Gators held Vanderbilt guard Aaron Nesmith to six points on 2 of 10 shooting. He’d scored a game-high 26 when the teams met exactly two weeks ago.
“I thought we gave him a little less space. He obviously demands a lot of space. We didn’t have to talk a lot about him in the scouting report,” UF coach Mike White said, when asked about how the Gators handled the VU freshman.
UF sprinted to a 20-8 lead before the clock hit 12 minutes left. Vanderbilt had more turnovers (four) than field goals (three) in that stretch.
What went right
Vanderbilt played Florida to a draw on the glass, with each team snagging 30 rebounds.
Moyer brought some energy to the floor, pulling nine boards and scoring 10 points.
What went wrong
Florida's man-to-man defense focused on Nesmith and used double-teams effectively to keep VU from getting much offensive flow. Vanderbilt's 14 turnovers to 10 assists tell the story there.
Forward Matt Ryan was almost invisible, scoring two points in 19 minutes.
Free throw shooting, again, was big. UF hit 93.8 percent of its 16 tries, and Vanderbilt, 50 percent of its 14. That's somewhat misleading, because the game was never in doubt for long, but it stands out on the final stat sheet.
Player of the Game
Point guard Saben Lee scored 15 points and handed out five assists to one turnover while logging a team-high 36 minutes. Vandy's miserable night obscured the fact that it's an impressive performance against one of the country's better groups of defensive guards.
Notes
VU started Lee, Nesmith, Ryan, Shittu and Yanni Wetzell.
Nesmith's 3 with 16:45 left in the first half extended VU's string of games with a made 3 to 1,059.
