Sunday, January 25, 2009

Engulfed in Flames

Florida's Chandler Parsons caught fire in a hurry Sunday... and then the rest of his teammates decided to follow suit.

Trailing 15-14 midway through the first half, the sophomore forward drained three straight 3-pointers and the Gators never looked back, leaving Nashville with a 94-69 victory, the Commodores worst home loss since 1996 (Kentucky, 120-81).

"We got it handed to us," said head coach Kevin Stallings. "We did not guard well and they seemed to get any shot they wanted to."

The Commodores were unable to guard in transition and the Gators made them pay for it all day long. Florida finished with a season-high 15 3-pointers (of 25), just missing the Memorial Gym record of 16. Parsons ended up having a career outing, scoring 27 points while hitting 7-for-8 from behind the arc. No one could have seen this coming from a guy that was making only 27 percent (19-71) from 3-point range on the year.

"If you give guys open shots, they're capable of making it, whether it's the SEC or whatever conference," said junior guard George Drake. "They made them tonight. It's frustrating because our defense didn't do what we're capable of doing."

Vanderbilt (12-7, 1-4 SEC) will hit the road next with a three-game skid including back-to-back double-digit home losses. While there's still plenty of basketball left to be played, it's definitely gut-check time.

"We're going through rough times right now," said junior guard Jermaine Beal. "We just have to pick it up and find some way to get going in the right direction."

For a full recap with postgame interviews, click here.

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