When Gators coach Mike White sat down to take questions following Saturday’s game between Florida and Vanderbilt, he remained in an uncomfortable, sullen silence.
He shook his head in disbelief as the words slowly poured out of his mouth: “I don’t know what to do.”
Just moments prior, KeVaughn Allen attempted a potential game-winning three-pointer for the Gators in the final seconds.
With the Commodores’ Matthew Fisher-Davis in his face, Allen launched a shot from the corner as he toppled out of bounds.
Over 10,000 fans held their collective breath as the ball slowly rotated toward the basket.
It clanked off the side of the rim.
No good.
Despite a dominant performance by Allen, No. 19 Florida (14-5, 5-2 SEC) couldn’t hold on in its 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt (9-10, 3-4 SEC).
It was UF’s second loss in a row and its first at home this season.
“I thought I could get down there in the corner and see if we had an open look and if not, I could holler timeout,” White said of Allen’s shot. “Before you know it, the ball was in the air. … We put him in a difficult situation.
“It’s my fault," White said.
Other than UF forward Devin Robinson, who broke out of a slump to register 12 points and six rebounds, Allen was the primary source of scoring during a game where no other Gators mustered more than six points.
The sophomore guard scored a season-high 29 points on 10-for-19 shooting and drilled five three-pointers.
“KeVaughn was terrific,” White said. “He was really good. … If he doesn’t throw in four or five high-degree-of-difficulty shots, the game wouldn’t have been close.”
White said Florida was plagued by a lack of communication on the defensive end that allowed the Commodores to take control late in the contest.
“I’m at a complete loss with what to do with our communication level,” he said. “The entire focus for this game, the entire scouting report, hours and hours and hours went into it. Hours went into drilling with the guys.”
It didn’t show.
Fisher-Davis torched the Gators for 19 points and hit a pair of crucial three-pointers during a 12-0 run in the second half, and 7-foot-1 forward Luke Kornet banged in two wide-open triples to keep the score close later on.
After a layup by graduate transfer Canyon Barry gave Florida a one-point lead with just under three minutes to play, Fisher-Davis hit a fadeaway, mid-range jumper to retake the lead — and it was never relinquished.
Now, the Gators head to Baton Rouge for a Wednesday night showdown with LSU before traveling to Oklahoma as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. And according to White, the Gators can't let their recent downturn affect them moving forward.
“There’s a fork in the road here,” White said. “Do we panic? Do we point fingers? Do we blame each other? Or do we simply man up?”
Contact Ray Boone at rboone@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @rboone1994.
UF coach Mike White looks on in Florida's 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt on Jan. 21, 2017, at the O'Connell Center.
