Even before the opening tip-off, the seeds were planted for Saturday afternoon to be a weird one for Florida. The Gators had left several uniforms at home, forcing Florida to look like a U12 AAU team incorporating new players for a tournament. Xaivian Lee had to wear No. 99, and Boogie Fland had to wear Cooper Josefsberg’s No. 33.
Fast forward a little over two hours, and the Gators walked out of Nashville with the type of win that kept escaping them during non-conference play as Florida knocked off No. 10 Vanderbilt 98-94 for their fourth straight Quad One win.
Xaivian Lee’s wears No. 99 and hits the game-winner
Beyond the jersey mishap, all afternoon just felt weird. Florida built an 11-point lead in the first half, only to watch it evaporate before halftime. The half ended after Florida scored with 44 seconds left, followed by Vanderbilt finding a way to stall the inbound for about 10 seconds to ensure Florida would get the ball back. The Commodores then got a fortunate bounce to take a 45-44 lead into halftime.
Vanderbilt built a quick five-point lead to start the second half before a flagrant foul on the Commodores sent Rueben Chinyelu to the free throw line for four shots.
He nailed all four, and Thomas Haugh hit a three off the ensuing inbound for a seven point possesion that gave Florida the lead back. The Gators built another nine-point lead only to once again watch it evaporate in a flash.
Once we got to the closing act of the afternoon, the question was whether Florida would find a way to do what they couldn’t do in the non-conference:
Win a tight game in the final two minutes.
Vanderbilt took the lead with 1:15 to set the stage for No. 99 to channel his inner Walter Clayton Jr.
Lee nailed a stepback three with 45 seconds left to take a one-point lead. Unlike against Duke, when Fland hit a similar shot to take the lead, Florida clamped down on defense to close out the signature win.
Don’t look now, but Florida is now firmly in the driver’s seat in the SEC and has moved into the top ten of KenPom. With a relatively favorable schedule ahead of Florida, the seeds are planted for the Gators to go on a massive run all the way through March.