Hodge’s career night leads Gators in upset

Florida didn’t handle its first ranking very well this season, promptly losing to rival Florida State by 14 points.

It looks like the Gators will get another shot.

Walter Hodge scored a career-high 19 points, Nick Calathes added 15 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and Florida used a huge first-half run to beat No. 14 Vanderbilt 86-64 Sunday in Gainesville, Fla.

The victory could land the two-time defending national champion Gators (18-3, 5-1 SEC) back in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since late November, but coach Billy Donovan would prefer his young and inexperienced team stay out of the national spotlight.

“It’s like poison,” Donovan said. “If they want to drink the poison and take it in, they’ll start to feel good about themselves, think they’re a lot better than they really are, they’ll stop working and they’ll get complacent, and you know what? They’ll get humbled.”

The Gators certainly humbled Vanderbilt on Sunday.

They put together a 23-0 spurt and built a 34-6 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, then cruised to their 13th victory in 15 games against the Commodores (17-3, 2-3). The streak includes seven straight in Gainesville.

(10) Michigan St. 77, Michigan 62: At East Lansing, Mich., Drew Neitzel and Kalin Lucas each scored 18 points and the Spartans beat the Wolverines to match their best 20-game record in school history.

Michigan State (18-2, 6-1 Big Ten) equaled the mark the 2000-01 team had at this point en route to their third straight trip to the Final Four and fourth Big Ten title in a row.

The Wolverines (5-15, 1-7) have their worst 20-game mark since they had the same record in 1981-82.

(4) Duke 93, Maryland 84: At College Park, Md., DeMarcus Nelson scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, Gerald Henderson added 23, and the the Blue Devils (17-1, 5-0 ACC) rallied to defeat the Terrapins after trailing by nine at halftime.

James Gist scored 26 and Bambale Osby had 20 points and 15 rebounds, both career highs, for the Terrapins (12-8, 2-3).

(23) Xavier 77, Massachusetts 65: At Amherst, Mass., Drew Lavender scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half and the Musketeers (17-4, 5-1) defeated the Minutemen (13-6, 2-3) to move atop the Atlantic 10.