Florida basketball coach Mike White had no idea what to expect of his Gators. They were missing preseason All-SEC pick Keyontae Johnson and were playing their first game since Dec. 12 Wednesday night at Vanderbilt.
As if they didn’t have enough of their own question marks, they were also facing the nation’s No. 10 scorer in Scottie Pippen Jr., who was averaging 23.3 points per game entering the contest.
With his famous father watching, however, it wasn’t a good night for the younger Pippen. UF held him to four points during the first half and the Gators’ defense frustrated the Commodores throughout the contest, coming out of their SEC opener with an easy 91-72 victory at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn.
Michigan transfer Collin Castleton had a career best night for the Gators. He scored 23 points and looked good doing it, hitting 11 of 13 floor shots and pulling down five rebounds.
The Gators’ defense was ramped up from the beginning. The Commodores shot 36.7% and went through an eight-minute stretch during which they failed to make a field goal. That’s when UF built its lead to its largest margin in the first half at 38-22. The Gators led 43-29 at halftime.
UF forced 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and, led by the leaping ability of Anthony Duruji, blocked six Vandy shots and had six steals. Vandy turned the ball over 16 times and UF had nine blocked shots and nine steals.
Pippen ended with 18 points, but most of it came during mop-up time.
Scottie Lewis had 16 points for the Gators, who shot 61.8% (34 of 55). Duruji added 11 points and three blocks and Tre Mann had 10 rebounds and nine points.
Vandy put together a bit of a rally to start the second half with an 11-2 run, but the Commodores could only get as close as 45-38 as Mann buried a 3-pointer and center Collin Castleton scored two straight buckets in the paint to hold Vandy at bay.
The Gators hit eight consecutive field goals at one point in the second half and much of that was from Castleton, who had his way in the paint. His hook shot four minutes into the second half was his first non-dunk of the night.
