Having won four out of their last five contests and coming off a decisive win over Kentucky, the Vanderbilt Commodores (16-9, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) are moving in the right direction at the best time of the year. Teams that start to peak in February are usually successful ones, and despite a bad loss at Tennessee, this Vanderbilt team looks like it might be on course for some late season heroics.
The preparation for this Saturday's game at Florida will be key, as it has been during the stretch of wins. According to Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, their one recent slipup was a result of a lack of focus.
"I did not think we prepared well the week before Tennessee, and I would think that we'll prepare better (this week)", Stallings said.
Despite a poor start to the year, the Commodores are showing signs of brilliance and could potentially put together a run of wins that places them into the postseason. The first task, however, will be facing a Florida team who averages 10 more points a game than Vanderbilt and also thumped the Commodores at Memorial Gym a month ago.
"I think we've got to move on now and can't really dwell on the win too much. Now our full concentration is on Florida and hopefully we can get up there and get another win," said freshman guard Brad Tinsley.
Florida (20-6, 7-4) shot 57 percent overall and went 15 of 25 from 3-point land, a hot streak that Vanderbilt had no answer for. With that type of shooting, teams are almost impossible to beat. The Commodores will have to come out with much better defensive effort and better 3-point shooting of their own if they hope to come away from Gainesville with a win.
"It will take an entirely different kind of effort for us to have a chance on Saturday." Stallings said.
"We definitely have to be better in transition, they killed us in transition last game, they got a lot of open shots off of just running. I think in practice these next few days we'll work hard on getting back and picking up better than we did the first time, " said freshman forward Jeff Taylor.
Unfortunately for the Commodores, the O'Connell Center is a very difficult place to win - Florida has not lost there yet this season. However, the Gators have struggled of late, dropping three of four games before their most recent victory over Alabama. The Commodores need to hope that as they are showing improvement as a team while Florida is slumping, thus making a victory in Gainesville a distinct possibility.
"I think we're really coming together really well, especially in the second half of the season," Tinsley said. "Hopefully we can keep this going."
