SEC Basketball Preview/Prediction: Florida at Vanderbilt

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Florida visits Vanderbilt on Saturday in a key SEC basketball matchup. Look inside for a preview of the game along with a prediction of the game’s final score.

By 14Powers Hoops

Team Statistical Comparison

	FG%	3PT%	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Florida	0.450	0.332	0.721	219	732	233	124	81	239
Florida OPP	0.410	0.312	0.726	202	665	234	112	54	264
Vanderbilt	0.429	0.329	0.677	190	659	243	145	81	264
Vanderbilt OPP	0.464	0.347	0.722	199	726	262	114	60	292

Statistical Leaders

Florida Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
PLAYER	TEAM	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Kerry Blackshear Jr.	Florida	14.4	80	109	19
Keyontae Johnson	Florida	13.0	102	36	19
Andrew Nembhard	Florida	11.2	83	38	20
Noah Locke	Florida	9.9	68	14	47
Scottie Lewis	Florida	8.6	50	51	12
Ques Glover	Florida	5.5	44	13	8
Tre Mann	Florida	5.2	33	17	10
Omar Payne	Florida	5.0	44	11	0

Florida Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Kerry Blackshear Jr.	Florida	54	113.0	167	8.4
Keyontae Johnson	Florida	32	99.0	131	6.6
Omar Payne	Florida	44	42.0	86	4.3
Scottie Lewis	Florida	20	58.0	78	4.1
Noah Locke	Florida	4	54.0	58	2.9
Andrew Nembhard	Florida	2	54.0	56	2.8
Tre Mann	Florida	4	28.0	32	1.8
Dontay Bassett	Florida	11	14.0	25	2.1
Ques Glover	Florida	6	17.0	23	1.2
Jason Jitoboh	Florida	4	4.0	8	0.8
Gorjok Gak	Florida	1	2.0	3	1.5

Vanderbilt Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
PLAYER	TEAM	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Saben Lee	Vanderbilt	16.2	111	81	21
Scotty Pippen Jr.	Vanderbilt	11.1	62	78	19
Maxwell Evans	Vanderbilt	7.2	50	22	21
Dylan Disu	Vanderbilt	6.7	45	17	27
Jordan Wright	Vanderbilt	4.1	26	27	3
Ejike Obinna	Vanderbilt	3.7	28	14	0
Matthew Moyer	Vanderbilt	1.9	13	8	3

Vanderbilt Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
PLAYER	TEAM	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Dylan Disu	Vanderbilt	21	97.0	118	5.9
Ejike Obinna	Vanderbilt	30	39.0	69	3.6
Aaron Nesmith	Vanderbilt	11	57.0	68	4.9
Maxwell Evans	Vanderbilt	16	51.0	67	3.4
Saben Lee	Vanderbilt	10	53.0	63	3.2
Scotty Pippen Jr.	Vanderbilt	12	49.0	61	3.1
Clevon Brown	Vanderbilt	22	32.0	54	6.0
Jordan Wright	Vanderbilt	17	27.0	44	2.2
Matthew Moyer	Vanderbilt	10	30.0	40	2.0
Braelee Albert	Vanderbilt	8	3.0	11	1.4
Oton Jankovic	Vanderbilt	3	6.0	9	0.8
Jon Jossell	Vanderbilt	0	3.0	3	0.8
Isaiah Rice	Vanderbilt	1	0.0	1	0.1

NCAA RPI

Florida: 42

Vanderbilt: 165

Florida Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Ques Glover	G	5′-11″	176	FR	Knoxville, TN
1	Tre Mann	G	6′-4″	172	FR	Gainesville, FL
2	Andrew Nembhard	G	6′-5″	193	SO	Aurora, ON
3	Alex Klatsky	G	6′-3″	189	FR	Colts Neck, NJ
4	Anthony Duruji	F	6′-7″	213	JR	Germantown, MD
5	Omar Payne	F	6′-10″	223	FR	Kissimmee, FL
10	Noah Locke	G	6′-3″	207	SO	Baltimore, MD
11	Keyontae Johnson	F	6′-5″	231	SO	Norfolk, VA
12	Gorjok Gak	C	6′-11″	244	JR	Sydney, NSW
21	Dontay Bassett	F	6′-9″	236	JR	Oakland, CA
22	Tyree Appleby	G	6′-1″	163	JR	Jacksonville, AR
23	Scottie Lewis	G	6′-5″	185	FR	Hazlet, NJ
24	Kerry Blackshear Jr.	F	6′-10″	241	SR	Orlando, FL
33	Jason Jitoboh	C	6′-11″	300	FR	Chattanooga, TN

Vanderbilt Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Saben Lee	G	6′-2″	183	JR	Phoenix, AZ
1	Dylan Disu	F	6′-9″	220	FR	Pflugerville, TX
2	Scotty Pippen Jr.	G	6′-1″	170	FR	Los Angeles, CA
3	Maxwell Evans	G	6′-2″	190	JR	Houston, TX
4	Jordan Wright	G	6′-5″	226	FR	Baton Rouge, LA
5	D.J. Harvey	G	6′-6″	235	SO	Bowie, MD
10	Drew Weikert	G	6′-0″	170	SO	Nashville, TN
13	Matthew Moyer	F	6′-8″	229	JR	Gahanna, OH
14	Isaiah Rice	G	5′-11″	195	JR	Indianapolis, IN
15	Clevon Brown	F	6′-8″	232	SR	San Antonio, TX
20	Trace Arbuckle	G	6′-2″	170	JR	Carmel, IN
21	Jon Jossell	G	5′-9″	160	SR	Arcadia, OK
24	Aaron Nesmith	F	6′-6″	213	SO	Charleston, SC
42	Quentin Millora-Brown	F	6′-10″	229	FR	Lorton, VA
50	Ejike Obinna	F	6′-10″	243	SO	Enugu, Nigeria
55	Oton Jankovic	F	6′-10″	212	FR	Napa, CA

Scouting Report

Vanderbilt (8-12, 0-7 SEC) fell to Kentucky 71-62 on Wednesday night in Lexington. The Wildcats led this one early in the first half until the 8:46 mark when the Commodores took a 17-16 lead on a Saben Lee layup. Except for a brief tie, Vandy maintained that lead for the rest of the half and went to halftime up 35-28. In the second half Vandy built a 40-30 edge before UK gradually started cutting into that lead. An Immanuel Quickley jump shot finally put the Cats back on top 50-49 with 10:19 to play. UK would build as much as a 10-point edge in the final minutes before picking up the win. Tyrese Maxey led the Wildcats with 17 points. Vandy’s Lee paced the Commodores with 21 points. UK won this one by making five more field goals and five more free throws than this Commodores. This offset Vandys nine made 3-point shots compared to Kentucky’s three.

Aaron Nesmith (23 ppg) is the Commodore’s and SEC’s leading scorer, however, he is out for the season with an injury. In his absence Saben Lee (16.2 ppg) has taken over that role. Freshman forward Dylan Disu leads Vandy in rebounding 5.9 rpg. For the season Vandy is shooting 42.9% from the field, 32.9% from 3-point range and 67.7% from the free throw line. Vandy is eighth in the SEC in scoring averaging 72.9 points a game. The Commodores are 12th in the SEC in scoring defense allowing 73.9 point per contest. Vandy is dead last in field goal percentage defense (46.4%) and last in 3-point shooting defense (34.8%).

Florida (12-8, 4-3 SEC) fell to Mississippi State 78-71 and Saturday in Gainesville. Mississippi State led this game early very briefly. However, Florida controlled this game for the remainder of the first half. The Gators led by as much as 16 points before heading to halftime up 45-35. In the second half the Bulldogs gradually chipped away at the Florida lead before taking a 59-58 lead with 8:58 to play on a Noah Locke jump shot. Florida would never lead again. Down the stretch the State players made their free throws and defended Florida well to escape with a big time resume building road win. MSU won this game with superior shooting hitting almost 54% from the field compared to Florida’s 45%. The Bulldogs also hit 88% of free throws, which is impressive in a road venue. Reggie Perry led the Bulldogs in scoring with 27 points. Scottie Lewis topped the Gators with 17 points.

Kerry Blackshear is the Gators top scorer so far this season averaging 14.4 points per game. He’s also the Gator’s top rebounder (8.4 rpg). The second top points producer is Keyontae Johnson (13.0 ppg). Team statistics wise, Florida doesn’t shine or struggle in any particular statistical category. In most stats the Gators are in the middle of the pack. Two areas the Gators somewhat stands out in is rebounding margin (5th, +3.3) and 3-point shooting (3rd, 33.2%). Florida does struggle in the area of blocks (9th, 4.1 bpg) and assists (12th, 11.7 apg) and steals (11th, 6.2 spg).

Florida should be the clear favorites in this game but Vandy looked good at times in the Commodores recent loss at Kentucky. Maybe things are coming together for them.

Florida-Vanderbilt Prediction

Florida 75, Vanderbilt 67

Saturday‘s game tips off at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. CT). TV: SEC Network.