Florida got off a shot in the final seconds this time but couldn’t get it to fall.
Down by two with 10 seconds to go, freshman guard Kenny Boynton missed an open three-pointer, and No. 13 Vanderbilt (23-6, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) held on for a 64-60 win over UF (20-10, 9-6 SEC) in the O’Connell Center on Tuesday night.
The final play was designed for junior forward Chandler Parsons to drive and create a shot, and after being double-teamed he kicked it out to a wide-open Boynton, who was just 2 of 15 from the field on the night after hitting 6 of 9 attempts from three-point range Saturday at Georgia.
“I skipped it to KB, and he got a great look,” said Parsons, who followed up his 29-point performance against the Bulldogs with just three points. “Those shots have been going down for him lately, so I can’t even really complain about the look we got.”
The Gators viewed their rematch with the Commodores as a must-win, and the loss puts far more pressure on them to win at Kentucky on Sunday and make a deep SEC Tournament run if they want to avoid a third-straight National Invitation Tournament appearance.
“This one was huge,” Parsons said. “You win this one, you’re in the (NCAA) Tournament. So it definitely hurts to fall short, especially on Senior Night for Dan (Werner) and with everything on the line.”
UF led by five with 9:22 to go but couldn’t get anything going offensively, as it went the last 9:53 without a field goal.
The Gators shot just 26.7 percent from the field and missed all seven of their attempted three-pointers in the second half.
The Commodores, meanwhile, went 42.9 percent from the field and hit 10 of 20 shots from beyond the arc for the game.
Six of those came from guard John Jenkins, who finished with a team-high 18 points and had plenty of open looks caused by loose-ball situations that Vanderbilt came away with.
“He’s a terrific shooter. You’ve got to pick your poison,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “Was he wide-open on some crazy plays? Yes. But I thought our guys were focused on trying to stop him.”
Parsons, Boynton and sophomore point guard Erving Walker combined to shoot just 4 of 28 on the night, and UF was forced to rely on Vernon Macklin.
The junior center had 21 points and nine rebounds, but Macklin was the only Gator to score more than nine points — just the second time this season Florida has had just one player in double figures.
“Vernon really stepped up,” Parsons said. “They pretty much took me out of the game offensively.”
Werner, the team’s lone senior, was honored before the last regular-season home game of his four-year career. His father, mother, brother and sister joined him at center court, where Donovan gave Werner a framed No. 21 jersey.
He finished with eight points, five rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block — one of his better games on the year — but couldn’t get a win in his final regular-season game in the O’Connell Center.
“It’s one thing if you lose a game and you don’t fight. We fought,” Werner said. “We were in the game and had an open look. Can’t ask for anything better.”
