Vandy’s Shocking Loss Ends Gators’ Preseason Rise To Top Of Pool!
The Commodores will play for the SEC tournament title in their hometown on Sunday.
Did Florida’s chances at a No. 1 seed in the 2026 NCAA tournament take a big hit on Saturday? The defending national champions were upset 91-74 by Vanderbilt in the semifinals of the SEC tournament .
The Commodores led for the final 29 minutes and had a 13-point lead at halftime by outscoring the Gators 33-20 after the game was tied at 14-14. The lead simply got bigger in the second half. And Florida coach Todd Golden eventually got frustrated enough to draw a technical foul.
After Devin McGlockton hit a wide-open 3-pointer with 8:11 to go to put the Commodores up 23, Golden got hit with the T for berating the officials. McGlockton’s shot was Vanderbilt’s 10th 3-pointer of the game on just 19 attempts. The Commodores finished 10-of-21 from behind the arc as the team shot 55% overall.
[ Enter Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem now for your shot at $50K ] Florida, meanwhile, was much, much colder. The Gators had a massive rebounding edge against Vanderbilt thanks to their forward trio of Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Reuben Chinyelu. But that advantage didn’t matter thanks to how poorly Florida shot the ball and how little Vanderbilt turned it over.