Facing a Vanderbilt team that had lost seven straight Southeastern Conference games, Florida had an opportunity to capitalize on the Commodores’ woes and earn its third straight victory.
But nothing went as planned for the Gators, as UF fell to Vanderbilt 67-61 on Tuesday night in Nashville, Tennessee.
Vanderbilt jumped out to a 15-0 lead, with UF (12-10, 5-4 SEC) missing its first nine shots before a pair of Alex Murphy layups sparked a 10-0 Florida run. The Gators went into the break down just 31-23 despite shooting 32 percent from the field and attempting four free throws compared to 18 from Vanderbilt (12-10, 2-7 SEC).
Dorian Finney-Smith, who was a focal point in Florida’s previous two SEC victories, fouled out with 8:52 to play in the second half. The redshirt junior tallied a paltry four points and four rebounds while shooting just 2-of-6 from the field.
The loss didn’t come at the hands of hot shooting by the Commodores, but rather at the free throw line.
Vanderbilt attempted a staggering 42 free throws, converting 29 of those attempts. Florida had just 16 attempts from the line, a differential that made it surprising that the Gators kept the game close.
Florida cut the Vanderbilt lead to five points 13 times and only got closer than that one time when an Eli Carter jumper cut the lead to 54-51.
But the Commodores hit shots when they needed to most, and Florida wasn’t able to run in transition as the Gators have done so well in spurts when the offense is free-flowing and the shots are falling.
Michael Frazier II followed up his late-game heroics against Arkansas on Saturday with a strong performance on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
After struggling from long-range in the Gators recent SEC contests, Frazier went 4-of-6 from behind the arc.
The junior sharpshooter tallied 21 points for the Gators, and continued his recent success on the defensive side of the ball by recording a career-high six steals and five rebounds while playing the most minutes (34) of all UF players.
Along with Finney-Smith, Alex Murphy also fouled out for the Gators, and Chris Walker failed to impact the game in any aspect aside from committing three fouls in a meager nine minutes that saw the struggling sophomore fail to command a presence in the paint.
Florida has just four days to regroup before the Gators take on No. 1 Kentucky at 9 p.m. in the O’Connell Center.
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Michael Frazier II attempts the game-winning free throw to give Florida a 57-56 win against Arkansas on Saturday in the O'Connell Center.
