NATIONAL MEN
In Upset, Vanderbilt Wins 'One for the Ages'
Byars and Foster Both Score 24 Points As Commodores Take Down No. 1 Florida
Associated Press
Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page E14
Forget all that talk about the top-ranked Florida Gators rolling through the Southeastern Conference undefeated.
Derrick Byars and Shan Foster each scored 24 points yesterday, and Vanderbilt snapped the nation's longest winning streak by upsetting the Gators, 83-70, in Nashville.
  Florida's Marreese Speights (34) escapes to the safety of the locker room as Vanderbilt's students rush the court. (By Paul Levy -- Associated Press) |
"This is one for the ages," Byars said. "Twenty years from now, I'll be able to tell my little kids this. This is special. You can't explain it."
Florida (24-3, 11-1) had won 17 straight games and needed a victory to clinch at least a share of the SEC's Eastern Division and the overall league title. They also had won seven straight over the Commodores.
But Vanderbilt (18-8, 8-4) has been one of the country's best against ranked opponents this season. Students poured onto the court at Memorial Gym after the Commodores pulled off their first victory over a top-ranked team since Jan. 13, 1993, when they beat No. 1 Kentucky, and their sixth victory over a ranked team this season.
The Commodores won for the seventh time in nine games by beating the nation's best shooting team at its own game, outshooting the Gators 57.1 percent to 44 percent. They took the lead in the first half and led by as many as 16 points late.
Florida Coach Billy Donovan tried to put the loss into perspective by pointing out that his Gators, the defending national champions, had won 35 of their last 37 games and had not lost a game since Dec. 3 to Florida State. That said, he didn't want this to be the start of a trend.
"We don't want one to lead to two," Donovan said.
· S. ILLINOIS 68, BUTLER 64: Jamaal Tatum scored 20 points, and the No. 16 Salukis stopped the 13th-ranked Bulldogs' 22-game home winning streak.
Matt Shaw added 15 points for Southern Illinois (24-5), which defeated a ranked team on the road for the first time since December 1975 against then-No. 16 Michigan.
The Bulldogs (24-4), who won their first 12 home games this season, were led by Mike Green with 18 points and Pete Campbell with 17. Top scorer A.J. Graves, who was sick, finished with five points in Butler's second loss in three games.
