Florida basketball is set to face another top 25 opponent.
The No. 19 Gators are on the road as they face No. 8 Vanderbilt on Saturday, Jan. 17.
UF (12-5, 3-1) comes off a 96-79 win against Oklahoma, while Vandy (16-1, 3-1) suffered its first loss of the season after falling to Texas 80-64.
The Gators are 8-68 all-time on the road vs. top-10 opponents, including 3-6 under Todd Golden. However, Golden’s three top-10 road wins are the most by any coach in Florida history.
Florida has scored 90 or more points in six of its last seven games, including three straight entering the matchup.
Vanderbilt’s high-scoring backcourt features Duke Miles, who has averaged 17.5 points per game and Tyler Tanner’s 17.2 points per game. Tanner leads the team with 89 assists and 44 steals, with Miles close behind in both categories with 66 assists and 43 steals.
Vandy leads the SEC in steals at 9.8 per game and assist-to-turnover.
“I think the one thing (Vanderbilt head coach) Mark (Byington) does a really good job of is he has answers for the different ways teams guard their stuff,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “They do a good job, for lack of a better term, of moving the pieces around to exploit the different way you guard things. I think you’re going to get yourself in trouble if you try to guard them the same way for 40 minutes. They will figure that out. They have enough talented, skilled players, and I think their personnel, they err on the side of being skilled and smart as opposed to big and physical.”
Florida vs Vanderbilt will be televised on ESPN and can be streamed via the ESPN app or Fubo, which offers a free trial to new subscribers. Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes will be on the call at the Memorial Gymnasium.
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at AAbadie@usatodayco.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.…Read more by Andrew Abadie