Florida basketball: The Gators’ schedule for the rest of the season

The first of this three-game set is a trip to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in a rematch of a game from two weeks ago. The Dores came into Gainesville and upset Florida basketball behind 32 points from Liam Robbins and a 52.2% 3-point rate.

This was the game that really put the Gators behind the eight-ball in their NCAA tournament hopes. Vandy was supposed to be a nice, easy home win after a four-game gauntlet, but they dropped the ball and put themselves in a spot where they needed to win out (they didn’t).

Now, as they had to Nashville for the rematch, the Gators still have a lot to play for. The biggest one is simply pride. This isn’t baseball. Florida should beat Vanderbilt just about every time. Losing in football was bad enough, we don’t need to get swept on the basketball court either.

The Gators will be looking to Aleks Szymczyk to both limit Liam Robbins and provide some good paint scoring. Hopefully, we see Jason Jitoboh start to play better as well as he gets more accustomed to his starting role.

In their first matchup this season, Riley Kugel set his then-season high of 18 points. He’s since broken that mark and has started to look like a future star in the SEC. If Kugel and Szymczyk can continue to rise, and the Gators play solid, foul-free defense, the Gators can get the Dores back on their home floor.