Kasey Hill dribbled the ball quickly down the court as the seconds ticked away.
After getting the step on his defender, Hill drove hard toward the basket in attempt to tie the game.
Hill tumbled to the ground as his layup flew off the backboard and out of bounds.
Florida’s senior guard lay flat on the floor with a smile on his face as the Gators’ best chance to even the game slipped away.
Aided by 24 points from senior forward Luke Kornet and a second-half collapse by UF, Vanderbilt (17-14, 10-8 SEC) upset No. 12 Florida 73-71 at Memorial Gym on Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee.
Graduate transfer Canyon Barry led Florida (24-7, 14-4 SEC) with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting, and sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen caught fire in the first half for 13 points and two threes.
When his team needed him most, Allen went scoreless in the second half. Allen was also quiet in the final half of UF’s last game, scoring only two second-half points against Arkansas on Wednesday.
“Every guy that was in the game left everything they had on the floor,” UF coach Mike White said. “High-level intensity game. Two teams again playing with a bunch of heart and passion, and doing whatever they could to finish the season as strong as possible.”
Florida scored the first bucket of the game, but three turnovers in the first four minutes helped Vanderbilt to a 9-0 run.
Aside from the opening basket, the Gators took their first lead after Allen converted two free throws to give UF a 22-21 lead with under nine minutes to go in the opening frame. Junior forward Devin Robinson banked in a floater as the halftime buzzer sounded to give Florida a nine-point lead heading into the locker room.
The second half was a game of runs from both sides.
A wide open dunk by forward Jeff Roberson capped a 9-2 run for Vanderbilt in the first three-and-a-half minutes and cut Florida’s lead to two.
Robinson gave the Gators their largest lead of the game at 54-42 with about 12 minutes remaining.
Then the Commodores’ Riley LaChance and Kornet intervened.
LaChance scored nine of his 13 points in the final five minutes, and Kornet went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line to seize and keep the lead.
“We played really well at times defensively,” said White, whose team held Vanderbilt 5-for-22 shooting from beyond the arc. “We had five or six mess-ups there that they made us pay for.”
Florida had several chances to even the score in the final minute, but a missed corner three-pointer by Allen and a full-court prayer by Chris Chiozza that went unanswered ended all hope of a UF win.
The loss concluded the Gators’ regular season and gave White his fourth straight defeat from the Commodores.
“It burns,” White said. “You hate to see this stuff pop up in March … but all we can do is move on, learn from it and hope to snap back here in the SEC Tournament and play our best basketball here late in the season.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
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UF guard Kasey Hill attempts a layup in Florida's 78-65 win over Arkansas on Wednesday at the O'Connell Center.
