Florida @ Vanderbilt preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 27, 2019 ) Florida 71, Vanderbilt 55

Florida is looking for a fresh start as the calendar turns to February after closing out January with its third straight loss, falling at home to Mississippi State 78-71 on Tuesday. Vanderbilt is likewise hoping for a turnaround, but the Commodores' streak of futility goes much further back as they head into Saturday's home matchup with Florida saddled with an SEC-record 25 straight regular-season conference losses.

The record-setting No. 25 occurred Wednesday as the Commodores gave it everything they had, even holding a 40-30 lead early in the second half, before coming up short 71-62 against No. 13 Kentucky. "Two weeks ago, there was a real glaze over everybody's eyes," Commodores coach Jerry Stackhouse told reporters. "Now we're starting to see there are some things we can do. Our guys are fighting and learning. They are taking the approach seriously. They will get better." The Gators don't want to be the SEC team that finally falls to Vanderbilt, but they need to avoid a disturbing trend of following up solid halves with abysmal ones as they did against Mississippi State, prompting Florida forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. to declare, "We were two different teams out there." The Gators, in fact, hit 18-of-31 shots (58.1 percent) from the field in the first half of that loss with 8-of-14 3-pointers but they were a miserable 0-for-7 from deep and 8-of-27 (29.6 percent) from the floor after intermission as their 10-point halftime lead disappeared.

TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: SEC Network

ABOUT FLORIDA (12-8, 4-3 SEC): The Gators' second-half collapse against Mississippi State wasn't reserved only for the offense as the defense fell apart as well, giving up 14 of the Bulldogs' first 20 shots after the break. Freshman Scottie Lewis finished as Florida's leading scorer after failing to score in double digits the prior four games, but 13 of his 17 points came in the first half, while Blackshear recorded 13 points for his 17th double-figure performance of the season. Blackshear tops the team in both scoring (14.4) and rebounding (8.4) while Noah Locke, despite his poor 1-for-5 showing against Mississippi State, is hitting 40.9 percent of his 3-point shots for the season and 50 percent in SEC action.

ABOUT VANDERBILT (8-12, 0-7): The young Commodores continue to show improvement despite yet another losing effort and freshman Dylan Disu comes off his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. But Vanderbilt also had difficulties hitting shots in the second half against Kentucky, shooting 26 percent after nailing 51.9 percent in the first. Four Commodores wound up in double figures, led by the team's leading scorer Saben Lee (16.2 ppg) with 21, Disu with 13, Scotty Pippen Jr. added 12 and Maxwell Evans finished with 10.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Commodores own a 71-66 series advantage, but the Gators have won three of the last four meetings, including a 71-55 win in Nashville last February.

2. The teams will meet again in Gainesville on Feb. 15.

3. The Gators are attempting to earn back-to-back wins at Vanderbilt for the first time since 2005 and 2006.

PREDICTION: Florida 74, Vanderbilt 69