Despite its 83-74 loss at Kentucky on Feb. 25, Vanderbilt remained in contention to finish second in the SEC when Florida lost at Georgia later in the day.
The Commodores dropped to 9-5 in league play with the defeat. The Gators are 10-4.
With the Gators coming to town for their next game on Feb. 28, the Commodores have little time to mope over their second loss to the Wildcats in two weeks.
"We have a huge game on Tuesday," senior guard/forward Jeffery Taylor said. "We have that to look forward to, and we are going to come in tomorrow and practice to prepare for that."
The Commodores, who are 20-9 overall, also have to be aware of what is behind them.
Alabama, which is getting its act back together after dealing with multiple suspensions issues, and Tennessee are both 8-6 in the conference.
The Commodores hold the tiebreaker over the Crimson Tide, but the Vols would have the advantage over the 'Dores if those two teams end up tied because of their season sweep of second-place Florida.
The Commodores and Vols play in Knoxville in the final regular-season game on March 3.
NOTES, QUOTES
Vanderbilt may have lost the game to Kentucky on Feb. 25, but the Commodores still came out encouraged. They led the Wildcats by one point at halftime and, after falling behind by 10 points in the second half, fought back to within one point, 66-65, with 4:27 left in the game.
"I'm encouraged," senior C Festus Ezeli said. "We came out and fought hard. I didn't play the best. I always take responsibility for stuff like that."
Vandy G/F Jeffery Taylor was 2-of-5 from three-point range, which was better than his performance at the free throw line, where he was only 1-of-5 against Kentucky.
"I'm a senior, so I don't think the crowd bothered me that much," said Taylor, whose 19 points led the Commodores in scoring. "I shot it good. It felt good, but it just didn't go in for me."
Taylor is shooting just 64.1 percent from the free throw line for the season but 46.2 percent from behind the three-point arc.
Junior G John Jenkins got off to a slow start against Kentucky, scoring only three points in the first half, but he finished with 18 on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range.
It was his 62nd consecutive game in double figures and gave him 1,525 points in his career, No. 11 all-time in school history.
BY THE NUMBERS
65.2 -- Vandy was only 15-of-23 from the free throw line Feb. 25 against Kentucky, a 65.2 success rate that was about five points below its season average coming into the game.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"I didn't wait around for an explanation. It wasn't going to be anything that was going to make me feel any better." -- Coach Kevin Stallings, after a charging call against Kentucky's Eloy Vargas was changed to a blocking foul on Vandy's Steve Tchiengang when officials confirmed by replay that Tchiengang had his left foot in the restricted area under the basket.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
vs. Florida, Feb. 28
KEY MATCHUPS
The Gators put four players in double figures in winning the first meeting between the two 73-65 on Feb. 4. G Kenny Boynton led with 18 and G Bradley Beal add 16. F Will Yeguete, who will miss the rest of the season after breaking his foot, had eight rebounds in that game for the Gators.
at Tennessee, March 3
KEY MATCHUPS
The Commodores jumped on the Volunteers early in the first meeting on Jan. 24, leading by 19 points at the halftime break on their way to a 65-47 victory. The Vols mad 25 turnovers in that game and had only one player, F Jeronne Maymon with 15 points, in double figures in scoring. They have been playing much better over the last month, however, and you can bet they are going to remember how embarrassing their performance was in Nashville.
FUTURES MARKET
Freshman G Dai-Jon Parker played only 10 minutes at Kentucky but was 2-of-3 from the field for four points and had an assist without making a turnover. Parker is 4-of-7 from the field (2-of-5 on threes) over the last four games.
PLAYER NOTES
Junior G John Jenkins has hit from three-point range in 49 consecutive games after making four treys against Kentucky on Feb. 25.
Senior C Festus Ezeli had 15 points, six rebounds, and three blocked shots in battling Kentucky's Anthony Davis (28, 11, five).
