Gators' Winning Streak Ends, NCAA Journey Begins

0:00On March 17th, the Florida Gators' men's basketball team saw their 12-game winning streak end with a 74-91 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournaments in my finals. Despite the blowout, their 26 wins and 7 losses earned them the final number one seed in the NCAA tournament as they chased a rare repeat. Title. Coach Todd Golden made it clear he would rather win than use a loss as motivation, but he plans to learn from the defeat. The Gators struggled with turnovers and allowed Vanderbilt to shoot over 50% from the field and nearly 50% from three-point range. Golden praised his team's effort, but noted they played too rushed and disorganized against the Commodore's strong defense. Still, he remains a beat, saying the squad hasn't lost confidence and knows Vanderbilt simply outfought them that day. Looking ahead, Florida faces Prairie View or Lehigh at 9.25pm Friday in Tampa's benchmark international arena. Those playing winners rank low nationally, but the Gators could see Clemson or Iowa next,

1:04both tough defensively despite playing at a slow pace. With a veteran core similar to last year's champions, Golden believes they're set for another deep run, using this set back to sharpen up before the big dance gets underway.