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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Florida 81, Vanderbilt 74
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 30, 2017
Where: Exactech Arena, Gainesville, Florida
Officials: # Tony Greene, # Tony Henderson, # Vladimir Voyard-Tadal
Attendance: 10274

Egor Koulechov scored a game-high 22 points and Florida opened its SEC season in style with an 81-74 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.

Koulechov, a graduate transfer guard from Rice, made 5 of 13 shots from the field but sank all 10 of his free throws. He also added eight rebounds.

Florida (9-4, 1-0 SEC) has won three straight games after a 1-4 slump that knocked the Gators out of the AP Top 25 Poll.

They had climbed as high as No. 5 earlier in the season.

Chris Chiozza (17 points) and KeVaughn Allen (16 points) also finished in double figures in the Florida win.

The Gators help themselves at the free-throw line as they made 27 of 30 shots (90 percent), but they hit only 43 percent from the field.

Jeff Roberson led Vanderbilt (5-8, 0-1) with 18 points and Matthew Fisher-Davis added 17 as five Commodores finished in double figures.

The Gators scored the game's first nine points but then didn't get a point for four minutes until just over 11 minutes remained in the first half. Florida then took off, hitting six 3-pointers and scoring 31 points in that short time en route to a 40-20 halftime lead.

The Commodores kept chipping away in the second half but Florida still held a 10-point lead with three minutes left. Roberson and Riley LaChance both made 3s to cut the lead to 74-70.

Chiozza then stopped that run on a layup with 50 seconds remaining, and the Gators held on even though Vanderbilt scored 54 points in the second half.
Top Game Performances
 
Vanderbilt   Florida
Jeff Roberson 18 Scoring Egor Koulechov 22
Payton Willis 4 Assists Chris Chiozza 3
Jeff Roberson 7 Rebounds Egor Koulechov 8
Saben Lee 5 Free Throws Made Egor Koulechov 10
Riley LaChance 1 Steals KeVaughn Allen 1
Djery Baptiste 2 Blocks Kevarrius Hayes 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Vanderbilt 74 41.9 12-31 10-14 14 31 3 1 9
Florida 81 42.6 8-19 27-30 7 34 10 4 5