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Gators Blow Out Vandy

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By JENNA MARINA, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 28, 2008

GAINESVILLE - Since the start of conference season, Florida's basketball team has had to scrap and battle back in the final minutes to come away with wins.

The Gators broke their habit Sunday by trouncing No. 14 Vanderbilt, 86-64.

After Florida put up a five-point lead, the Gators proceeded to go on a 23-0 run during a 6:05 span midway through the first half.

"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."

During their drought, the Commodores (17-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) went 0-for-7 from the field while the Gators (18-3, 5-1) went 9-for-10.

Perhaps former Florida sharpshooter Lee Humphrey's presence in the crowd helped fuel the Gators' 3-point shooting. During a 2:37 stretch in the first half, Jai Lucas, Jonathan Mitchell, Walter Hodge and Dan Werner each hit treys.

Even the 6-foot-10 Marreese Speights almost pulled up from behind the arc, but he gave it a second thought and decided for a long jumper instead.

Most of the Gators said after the game they couldn't believe they went on such a huge run, but the stretch was not Florida's largest of the season. The Gators put up a 24-0 run against North Florida on Nov. 20.

"When I checked in the game, I honestly sat at the scorer's table for like two minutes," Parsons said. "We just kept scoring and scoring with no dead ball. 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 Gators did not end up shooting particularly well for the game, hitting 29-for-60 from the field. Still, on those 29 made shots, Florida dished out 26 assists.

Freshman point guard Nick Calathes (15 points, seven rebounds) finished with 10 of those assists, but Florida coach Billy Donovan made a point after the game to commend Werner for his passing.

The forward found Hodge four times on backdoor cuts, which helped fuel Hodge's team-high and career-high 19 points.

"He's taking me out to dinner for it - Stonewood Grill and Tavern," Werner joked.

The Gators managed to buckle down defensively as well.

Vanderbilt's Shan Foster headed into Sunday's game averaging 20.1 points per game, but Florida limited the SEC's leading scorer to just seven. Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy, who had put up double-digit points every game this season, finished with nine.

With the win, Florida earned its first victory against a ranked team this season and again sits atop the SEC East with a 5-1 record.

Most of the Gators fielded questions about a possible return to the top-25 rankings, which the players didn't seem to be overly concerned about.

"We were ranked at one time and got our butts kicked by FSU," Werner said. "We don't really care about that right now. We just care about the next game and whatever happens, happens."

INSIDE THE GAME

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Usually the Gators' dirty-work player, F Dan Werner stepped up to tally 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

STAT OF THE GAME: Vanderbilt reserve Andre Walker hit 4-for-5 plus two free throws in eight minutes during the first half compared with the rest of the team's 8-for-24 performance.

TURNING POINT: Florida was up by only five points before the Gators went on a 23-0 run during the first half to run away with the win.

UP NEXT: Florida plays at Arkansas on Saturday at 3 p.m.

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