Back-to-back road losses have -- at least temporarily -- put a damper on Vanderbilt's SEC hopes.
And the Commodores have nobody to blame but themselves.
Despite the final eight-point margin of their 73-65 loss to Florida, the Commodores, who were coming off a midweek loss at Arkansas, were very much in the game in Gainesville through most of the second half.
But they simply couldn't make the key play when it was needed, and their uncharacteristic 17 turnovers -- the last coming with 29 seconds left in a six-point game -- sent them to a third conference loss against five wins.
They are alone in third place behind Kentucky, which is undefeated in the league race, and one-loss Florida.
"We didn't do a very good job of attacking their press, and it was disruptive," coach Kevin Stallings said of Vandy's play against the Gators. "We did a poor job with our spacing and our ball-handling, and it caused problems."
The loss dropped the Commodores to 16-7 overall and puts even more importance on the two home games coming up.
Vandy will be host to LSU and then entertain Kentucky in the first of two meetings with the Wildcats, who went to 9-0 in the league with their win at South Carolina later in the evening.
A sweep won't get the Commodores back into contention for the regular-season title and top conference tournament seed, but it would help solidify their place among the top four, which get first-round byes in the tourney.
NOTES, QUOTES
-Senior guard/forward Jeffery Taylor has been on a tear in 3-point shooting since SEC play began.
He was 4-of-7 from behind the mark in Vanderbilt's loss at Florida, making him 20-of-34 (58.8 percent) in Vandy's eight league games through Feb. 4.
For the season, Taylor was shooting 47.1 percent from 3-point range after shooting just under 30 percent in his first three years.
-Vandy went into its game at Florida shooting 47.4 percent from the field in its first seven SEC games. But the Commodores were only 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) against the Gators. They had shot 50 percent against Arkansas their previous outing.
-The losses at Arkansas and Florida marked the second time this season that Vanderbilt has lost consecutive games. The Commodores lost at home to Xavier back on Nov. 28 and followed that with an overtime loss at Louisville.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
vs. LSU, Feb. 8
KEY MATCHUPS: C Festus Ezeli will face a challenge from LSU's Justin Hamilton inside. G Anthony Hickey has emerged as a scoring threat and assist man for the Tigers since conference play has begun. G Ralston Turner seems to be getting his game back after slumping for most of the season.
vs. Kentucky, Feb. 11
KEY MATCHUPS: Kentucky's Anthony Davis will be difficult to handle in the paint at the defensive end. The Commodores need to keep the pressure on the perimeter and not let Doron Lamb and Darius Miller go off from 3-point range.
FUTURES MARKET
Where has the bench gone? Vandy reserves contributed only two points in the loss at Florida. Vandy got 14 points from its bench at Arkansas, but they all came from two players (F Steve Tchiengang with 10 and G Kedron Johnson with 4). The Commodores got zero points from reserves against Middle Tennessee. This is a trend that needs to be reversed as the season enters its stretch run.
PLAYER NOTES
-Junior G John Jenkins was 6-of-13 from the field on his way to 15 points against Florida, his 54th consecutive game in double figures.
-Senior F Lance Goulbourne bounced back from subpar work on the boards at Arkansas, where he had two rebounds, to snatch a game-high 11 against the Gators. It was his fifth game of the season in double figures in rebounds.
-Senior C Festus Ezeli scored in double figures for a third straight game with 11 points at Florida. He has been in double figures in five of the last six games.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We played OK at times and not so OK at other times, but we competed hard." -- Coach Kevin Stallings, after Vandy's loss at Florida.
