A physical game that sent two Commodores to the bench bloodied in the first half, ultimately the Gators size and talent was too much for the Dores. Vanderbilt loses their fourth straight SEC road game, falling to the #6 Florida Gators 86-75 after leading at half 36-35. Jason Edwards led the way for Vanderbilt with 20 points, Will Richard led the Gators with 21 points.

Florida entered the game without their star player and leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. Both teams were coming off large road losses. Florida by 20 to Tennessee and Vanderbilt by 30 to Oklahoma. Vanderbilt's loss to the Sooners knocked them out of the top 25.

Florida entered the game at #5 in Kenpom, Vanderbilt entered at #50. According to Joe Lundardi's bracketology, Vanderbilt entered as a 10 seed and Florida entered as a 2 seed. Vanderbilt opened as a 12.5 point underdog per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Vanderbilt opened up the game in less than ideal fashion, turning the ball over twice in their first 2 possessions and allowing Florida to score 5 points. An AJ Hoggard layup settled the Commodore offense down and lit the offensive flame. Jason Edwards and Tyler Nickel buried 3-point jumpers on the next 2 Commodore possessions and Vanderbilt held an 8-5 lead at the 17:19 mark after a sloppy start.

The rest of the half can be described in one word: physical. A back and forth matchup with both coaches seemingly in a chess match. Tyler Tanner was forced to leave the court about halfway through the first half due to a bloody nose caused by an Auburn player diving for a loose ball. Play also had to be stopped later in the half to treat Jaylen Carey's bleeding arm.

Florida's size bothered Vanderbilt in the first half, but Vanderbilt's speed on offense and defense created just as many problems for the Gators. Both teams uncharacteristically turned the ball over at a high rate, Vanderbilt with 9 and Florida with 8. Despite the size disadvantage Vanderbilt only lost the rebound battle 16-15. Both teams shot better than 50% from the field. Jason Edwards led the way with 12 points, Jaylen Carey with 10. For the Gators, Alex Condon scored 11 and Denzel Aberdeen chipped in 9, including one VERY deep 3 at the end of the shot clock.

Vanderbilt led over Florida 36-35 at halftime.

The half opened up with a couple crisp offensive possessions for both squads. A Jason Edwards layup increased the Commodore lead to 3, 38-35. A foul on Chris Manon followed by a Will Richard 3 tied the ball game up at 38. A couple back and forth big man finishes kept the score even at 40-40 with 18 minutes remaining. A Will Richard baseline dunk to take the lead got the Gator crowd on their feet in the O'Dome, but a foul on Rueben Chinyelu, his 4th, sent Devin McGlockton to the line and quickly quieted a crowd ready to explode. McGlockton went 1 for 2 and Vanderbilt trailed 42-41 with 17:22 remaining.

The game headed into the first TV timeout of the second half tied at 46 after a Jaylen Carey top of the key 3 brought the Commodores even. A huge opportunity stood in front of Vanderbilt, a chance at a resume changing road win.

A miss from Florida big man Alex Condon and a finish from Jaylen Carey over Condon started play out of the first TV timeout, Commodores led 48-46. After a few back and forth possessions, Will Richard buried a 3 to give the Gators a 49-48 lead with under 14 minutes remaining. Jason Edwards finally reentered the game with 12:34 remaining in the half after an MJ Collins Jr foul.

A McGlockton putback after a Jason Edwards missed fadeaway gave the Dores a 50-49 lead. That lead was short lived as Sam Alexis immediately answered with a 3. Vanderbilt was unsuccessful on their following possession and Will Richard hit another 3 for the Gators, giving them a 55-50 lead with 11 minutes remaining.

A goaltending call and a foul sent Edwards to the line to attempt 1 and sent the game into the under 12 minute TV timeout. Edwards missed the free throw but still stopped the Florida 6-0 run. On the other end Florida held serve, Sam Alexis finished through a Jaylen Carey foul and had a 3 point play opportunity the old fashioned way as well. Alexis missed his free throw, 57-52 Gators lead at the 10 minute mark.

A whistle on Jason Edwards with 9:31 remaining put Florida into the bonus and sent Sam Alexis to the free throw line. He missed the first of his one and one opportunity and MJ Collins Jr buried a mid-range jumper on the other end, cutting the Gator lead to 57-54. Urban Klavzar got momentum back on the home team's side with back to back threes, giving Florida a 63-54 lead and all the momentum, timeout Vanderbilt.

The Gators never gave the momentum back. Vanderbilt continued to fight and scrap but could never significantly cut into the Florida lead. Jaylen Carey picked up his 5th foul on a questionable call with 4:46 remaining, finished with 15 points after scoring 10 in the first half.

Denzel Aberdeen split a pair at the line, extending the Florida lead to 72-63. A nice dish from Tyler Nickel led to a Devin McGlockton layup, cutting the Gator lead to 72-65 with 4:26 remaining. A Tyler Tanner foul on a Denzel Aberdeen jumper at the end of the shot clock sent the game into the final TV timeout.

Aberdeen hit both free throws, Tyler Tanner missed a layup, and Alijah Martin slammed one home to give the Gators a 76-65 lead at the 3:26 mark. 85% free throw shooter Jason Edwards missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity on the following possession and the game was all but over.

Then Will Richard buried another three, giving the Gators a 79-65 lead with 2:41 left, and the game was completely over. A well designed play from Mark Byington after a timeout led to a Devin McGlockton 3, cutting the lead to 11 points. However, comeback efforts from the Commodores fell short. Florida easily handled Vanderbilt's pressure with passes overtop of the press.

Vanderbilt loses their 4th straight SEC road game, this time 86-75 to the #6 Florida Gators. This game can be analyzed and evaluated as much as anyone wants. Vanderbilt lost this game for 1 simple reason:

Shooting

Florida shot 57.4% from the field, 47.6% from 3-point range. Vanderbilt shot 50.8% from the field, 31.6% from 3-point range. These stats were a little more dramatic prior to the last couple minutes of gameplay. Regardless, you have to score more points than the opponent to win and the Commodores are going to struggle to win ball games being outshot by their opponent by that significant of a margin. Big matchup at home this Saturday against the Texas Longhorns, a must win game.

Side Note: The usage of Jason Edwards in the second half was... questionable. At one point after hitting 2 free throws he was immediately pulled from game, seemingly as an offensive-defensive switch or possibly because Edwards was jawing with some Florida players? Regardless, Jason Edwards needs to be on the court more. He is the straw that stirs the offensive drink.