Tourney chances slip away as UF falls to Vandy

On Senior Day, the Florida Gators hoped an emotional spark from senior forward Dan Werner coupled with the need for a marquee win would earn them a berth in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Gators (20-10, 9-6 SEC) fell 64-60 to the No. 13/19 Vanderbilt Commodores (23-6, 12-3 SEC) at home at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL.

Werner played well for most of the game, contributing eight points on 3-of-6 shooting with five rebounds and two steals, but an accidental tip-in of a Commodores layup late in the second half may very well have cost Florida the game.

Redshirt junior transfer center Vernon Macklin was a rock for the Gators, scoring 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting with a game-high nine rebounds. However, freshman guard Kenny Boynton shot a paltry 2-for-15 from the field (1-of-6 from downtown), sophomore point guard Erving Walker only added five points on 1-of-9 shooting (0-for-3 from beyond the arc) and junior F Chandler Parsons – the team’s spark plug and most reliable player – barely contributed, only shooting the ball four times for three points.

Read the rest of OGGOA’s Florida vs. Vanderbilt game story after the break!

Vanderbilt opened the game with runs of 9-0 and 9-1 to go up a game-high 12 points (20-8) with 13:37 left in the first half. Florida would chip away throughout the half, ending on a 10-3 run with a dagger three-pointer by sophomore G Ray Shipman at the buzzer. They would go into the locker room only down three even though the Commodores had shot an exemplary 6-of-8 from downtown.

A 10-0 run early in the second half gave the Gators their first lead of the game at 47-46. Their momentum continued as the run expanded to 16-2, putting them up 53-48 with 9:23 to go. That was until Vanderbilt G John Jenkins caught fire from three-point land. Jenkins made three consecutive treys to first cut Florida’s lead to one, then tie the game at 57 and finally give his team a 60-59 lead with 3:08 left in the contest.

Macklin tied the game on a free throw, but Werner’s accidental tip-in (credited to C A.J. Ogilvy) gave the Commodores a 62-60 lead. The Gators, who had not scored in 9:36 at the time, recovered a steal by Walker and had the chance for a set play coming out of a timeout with 17.3 seconds remaining on the clock. Parsons drew coverage away before giving up the ball to a wide-open Boynton – who missed from downtown.

Jenkins finished 6-for-9 from three for a team-high 18 points.

Florida’s first loss of the season after they led with five minutes to go came as they shot only 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from three compared to 50 percent (10-of-20) for Vanderbilt. The Gators will close out the regular season on Sun., March 7 against the No. 3/3 Kentucky Wildcats on the road in Lexington, KY. The game will air live on CBS at noon.