The days of flying under the radar are over.
For a team that many experts believe doesn't belong in the polls, the Gators made the nation's No. 14 squad look like it didn't belong on the same court.
With fans dangling their keys and chanting "overrated," the Gators (18-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) dominated Vanderbilt (17-3, 2-3 SEC) 86-64.
"We just want respect," center Marreese Speights said. "We don't care about rankings."
The Commodores, considered among the country's best, looked overwhelmed and intimidated by a young Gators squad that came out of the gate firing.
Leading 17-6 early on, the Gators poured on 17 unanswered points to take a 34-6 advantage that left Vanderbilt reeling.
"We kept it up in those first 10 minutes," forward Chandler Parsons said. "If we would have kept it up the whole game, we would have blown them out even more."
"At first you're like, 'Man I want to get in the game,' but we just kept exploding on them. That's the way Gator ball should be."
The Commodores were able to stage a 22-10 run to close the half and headed into intermission trailing 46-31, lucky to be in a game where they failed to break double digits for nearly the first 13 1/2 minutes.
But the Gators, fueled by defensive pressure and Vanderbilt miscues, used the early moments of the second half to widen their lead and end any chance of a comeback on Sunday afternoon.
UF shot a mediocre 48.3 percent from the field but held the Commodores to just 30 percent from beyond the arc, including just 2 of 11 in the second half.
The Gators garnered 26 assists on 29 field goals, something UF coach Billy Donovan noted as key to the game.
"They moved and passed the basketball, which is good to see," Donovan said. "I think they did a great job of getting each other involved and making plays."
Walter Hodge had a career-high 19 points on a night when all five of the Gators starters scored in double figures.
Forward Dan Werner filled the stat sheet, pouring in 14 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out six assists, four of which were to Hodge on backdoor cuts.
Werner said after the game he expects Hodge to return the favor.
"He's taking me out to dinner," Werner said. "Stonewood."
Nick Calathes flirted with a triple-double, tallying 15 points to go along with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
The closest Vanderbilt came in the second half was 15 points, as they failed to mount any consistent attack.
Leading scorers A.J. Ogilvy and Shan Foster didn't show up in the contest, combining for only 16 points, well short of the 38.6 they contribute regularly.
Speights, who continued his strong play, outworked Ogilvy, one of the nation's top freshmen.
"It was great to see him on the sideline tired," said Speights, who scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds. "That's when you know you've done a good job, when their guy can't get off the bench."
When asked if the Gators should crack the polls, Donovan just shrugged and downplayed the idea.
"It's like poison," he said. "If they want to drink the poison, they'll start to feel good about themselves and think they're a lot better than they are. They'll stop working, get complacent and you know what, they'll get humbled. Like I've said before, you can either humble yourself or life will humble you."
