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No. 1 Florida can clinch share of SEC regular-season title

Feb 17, 2007 - 3:29 PM No. 1 Florida (24-2) at Vanderbilt (17-8) 1:00 pm EST

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) - Florida is far from finished setting records and clinching milestones this season.

The top-ranked Gators can wrap up a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title and set a school record for longest winning streak in Saturday's encounter with Vanderbilt.

Looking for its 18th consecutive triumph, Florida (24-2, 11-0 SEC) has a four-game lead over Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the SEC East Division and can also set a regular-season school victory mark.

The defending national champions, Florida is the only team in the nation with three winning streaks of at least 15 games in the past 15 months and can match a school mark for conference wins under the 16-game schedule.

The Gators gave coach Billy Donovan his 250th career victory at Florida with Wednesday's 76-67 victory over Alabama. Taurean Green scored 20 points to reach 1,000 for his career and Corey Brewer added 16 for the Gators.

The Commodores (17-8, 7-4) have won six of their last eight contests, including Wednesday's 78-68 triumph over South Carolina.

Derrick Byars hit 11-of-15 shots and scored a career-high 32 points and Shan Foster and Alex Gordon added 14 apiece for Vanderbilt, which made 11-of-24 3-pointers.

Florida has seven consecutive matchups and 12 of the past 13 against Vanderbilt. The Gators took this season's first encounter, overcoming an 11-point deficit at the half to post a 74-64 victory on January 31.