No. 4-seeded Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball (25-7, 11-7 SEC) took on No. 1-seeded Florida (26-6, 16-2 SEC) in the semi-final round of the SEC Championship on Saturday afternoon in its home city of Nashville, Tennessee. The game came a day after the ‘Dores downed Tennessee 75-68 in the quarter-final round, led by a 30–point performance from Duke Miles. 

The last contest between the Commodores and Gators was a thriller, with Florida emerging with a 4-point victory over the ‘Dores in January at Memorial Gymnasium. Ultimately, the Commodores were able to avenge their earlier defeat, walking away with a dominant win over the Gators. 

It will be the Commodores’ first SEC Championship game appearance since they won the tournament in 2012, downing Kentucky in the finals. 

“I think Florida was the hottest team in the country and probably deserving of a one seed,” Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. “[We] went out, played physical, played fearless, played the right way, played good team basketball. That’s what you need to be able to beat a good team.” 

First half  

Despite a late-game leg injury to AK Okereke in the semi-final game against Tennessee, Byington stayed with his same starting five: Miles, Tyler Tanner, Tyler Nickel, Okereke and Devin McGlockton.  

Vanderbilt won the opening tip, and after working the ball around the perimeter, Miles found Okereke on a kickout from under the basket. Okereke missed the shot, but the ‘Dores quickly got a stop on the other end and transitioned that into a Tanner 3-pointer from the top of the arc for the game’s first points. Florida took the lead back on back-to-back elbow jumpers with two stops in between.  

Vanderbilt took a 4-point lead when Okereke made a big 3-pointer to extend the lead to 4. But the Gators caught back up, and the two teams continued to, for the most part, trade baskets on either side, and at the next media break, the score was knotted up at 14-all. Miles was able to draw a big foul on an attempted 3-pointer and sank all the free throws, putting the Commodores back in front amid a field goal drought on both ends. There was a stoppage of play to review a non-basketball foul from Alex Condon on Miles with Florida ultimately losing a timeout — a call that head coach Todd Golden was visibly unhappy with.  

On Vanderbilt’s next possession, Miles made a huge 3-pointer and drew a foul for a 4-point play. An offensive foul on the Gators would give the ball back to the Commodores, and they capitalized. Jalen Washington pulled up from beyond the arc and added another 3 points to the Commodores’ lead. Then it was McGlockton’s turn; he also made a 3-pointer, Vanderbilt’s third in a row to extend Vanderbilt’s lead to 10. Florida then broke its over five-minute scoring drought on a 3-pointer of its own from Boogie Fland.  

Nickel started to heat up with just over five minutes left in the half, making a 3-pointer and a layup on back-to-back possessions. Meanwhile, on the defensive side, Jayden Leverett made an impact by denying one of the nation’s best in Rueben Chinyelu. Vanderbilt remained hot from the field, entering a timeout at 2:46, having made 8 of its last 10 field goals and holding a 39-29 lead over the Gators. Tanner added a steal and a layup to put him in atop the Vanderbilt single-season steals leaderboard, with 78. Commodore Faithful’s cheers filled up Bridgestone Arena as time ticked down in the first half, with Vanderbilt holding a 47-34 lead at the halftime buzzer.

Second half  

Vanderbilt opened the second half on a 2:24 scoring drought, which was eventually broken by a jumper from Tanner. After Lee made a 3-pointer for the Gators, Okereke matched him on the other side with one of his own. A Commodore steal on the next position turned sour when Nickel was blocked on a dunk attempt, prompting a chorus of cheers from the Gator fanbase. Washington then added another basket made from beyond the arc and Miles blocked a dunk attempt from Isaiah Brown on the quick break. The block transitioned into a Tanner layup to bring Vanderbilt’s lead to 16 and Golden called a timeout.

After the break, Vanderbilt continued to add to its lead; Washington and Bing both hit jumpers with Bing drawing an and-one. Meanwhile, the Gators struggled from the field with their only 2 points across 3:47 coming from free throws. Bing lit up the whole stadium after driving past Lee on a cross pass and slammed it down to extend the ‘Dores lead to 21. Haugh then broke Florida’s scoring drought on a slam-dunk of his own. McGlockton made his third 3-pointer of the game and a Florida offensive turnover ended in Golden being assessed with a technical foul.  

Miles shot the free throws from the technical and made both of them. But the next score from Vanderbilt would not come until over a minute later when Miles made another pair of free throws. Meanwhile, the Gators scored a layup, from Chineylu, and Haugh made a free throw to add 3 points, but the ‘Dores maintained a comfortable 18-point lead. Bing picked up his fourth foul with 4:09 remaining in the game, but Byington kept the freshman in, opting to substitute Okereke in for McGlockton. At the media timeout with 3:23 left in the game, Vanderbilt held an 18-point advantage. 

After the break, Florida came out firing. Haugh hit a jumper, while Brown and Fland had dunked the ball on back-to-back possessions, which in between featured an uncharacteristic. turnover from Miles. After a timeout charged to Vanderbilt, it rebounded to score consecutive field goals — breaking Florida’s high press. The Commodores rounded out the game with a steal from Miles, who then dribbled out the clock, as Vanderbilt fans stood to their feet and V-U chants erupted.

Next up for Vanderbilt will be the SEC Championship game, which will be played March 15, at 12 p.m. CDT in Nashville, Tennessee, at Bridgestone Arena.