For the first time in what seemed like forever, the Gators won a game decided by five or fewer points, defeating Vanderbilt 50-47 on Wednesday in the O’Connell Center.
The win over the Commodores pushing UF’s record to 5-7 this season when the game is decided by five points or less while snapping a four-game losing skid in the process.
"It felt great. We played desperate, especially in the second half," forward Alex Murphy said. "We came out a little bit flat; offensively we were a little bit stagnant in the first half. The energy was much better in the second half. We created some turnovers (and) scored out of the press a little bit."
With 28 seconds left, it looked like Florida was setting itself up for another crushing disappointment. Guard Kasey Hill stepped to the charity stripe and missed both free throws with a chance to at least tie the game. After a missed Vanderbilt free throw on the other end, the Gators corralled a rebound and Hill was able to redeem himself as he drove through the lane and found a slashing Devin Robinson.
Robinson dunked the ball with 2.1 seconds left to give Florida a one-point lead. Freshman Chris Chiozza’s two free throws would give UF the final margin before a late-game heave went off target for the Commodores.
"I was proud, I could see Kasey fight," Donovan said. "I could just see his body language was not good after the two free throws, and I watched him and I think he tried to regather and regroup himself and I’m glad that he did that kept himself in the game."
Florida’s offense wasn’t supposed to be good after second leading scorer Dorian Finney-Smith’s indefinite suspension was announced an hour before the game. With Michael Frazier II also out, Florida was without a scorer averaging double digits on the season in its lineup.
It was still mostly going well early on for Florida.
The Gators (13-13, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) were up seven on the Commodores (14-12, 4-9 SEC) midway through the first half.
Alex Murphy and Chiozza had each just hit three-pointers — only Murphy’s second of the season and Chiozza’s third in SEC play — to stretch the lead and give the Gators some breathing room.
From there, the Gators struggled until halftime.
After Murphy’s three-pointer, the Gators went scoreless for the final 8:37 of the first half.
They made 2 of their final 13 field goals and missed each of their last 10.
They also had three turnovers in the final 8:02 before halftime, a frustrating stretch that left Chiozza at one point banging the scorer’s table in frustration. Vanderbilt finished the half on a 13-0 run, and went to halftime leading by six.
"It’s just that offensively it is an absolute struggle. Struggle," Donovan said. "We made a couple plays coming down the stretch, I don’t agree when I get asked about us being unlucky or snake-bitten and all that other stuff. I believe you create your own luck, create your own opportunity."
The man that started the drought ended it 15 seconds into the second half.
Murphy’s layup cut the deficit to four but the second half proceeded with a similar offensive ineptness, but it was Vanderbilt that caught a case of the misses.
On two separate occasions the Commodores had scoring droughts longer than five minutes.
Florida ended up shooting a dismal 24 percent from three point range and 36 percent overall on 18-50 from the field.
Devin Robinson led UF in scoring with 12 points and tied Jon Horford and Chiozza with six rebounds apiece.
After getting cleaned on the glass in the earlier meeting with the Commodores last month, the Gators outrebounded Vanderbilt 41-31.
After a 13-0 run of their own, the Gators owned a seven-point lead with 6:37 left.
The Commodores battled back tying the game at 44 with 1:24 remaining. From there, Hill would go from goat to giver of victory, in the span of 26 seconds.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
Devin Robinson dunks during Florida's win against Vanderbilt on Feb. 18.
