Florida basketball coach Mike White had no idea what to expect of his Gators. They were missing preseason All-SEC pick Keyontae Johnson and were playing their first game since Dec. 12 Wednesday night at Vanderbilt.
As if they didn’t have enough of their own question marks, they were also facing the nation’s No. 10 scorer in Scottie Pippen Jr., who was scoring 23.3 points per game entering the contest.
With his famous father watching, however, it wasn’t a good night for the younger Pippen. UF held him to four points during the first half and the Gators’ defense frustrated the Commodores throughout the contest, coming out of their SEC opener with an easy 91-72 victory at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn.