Todd Golden credits Rueben Chinyelu for role in big win at Vanderbilt
By David Wasson
Published:
The 19th-ranked Florida Gators outlasted the 10th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores 98-94 on Saturday in Nashville, handing the Commodores their second straight loss and their first at home in 2025-26.
One of the main reasons the Gators (13-5 overall, 4-1 SEC) were able to escape Memorial Gymnasium with the key SEC road victory was the play of Rueben Chinyelu. The Florida big man scored 16 of his team-high 20 points against Vanderbilt (16-2, 3-2) in the second half.
“I’ll take a portion of the blame,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the game. “I don’t think we jammed it into him enough in the first half. And we were scoring, but the thing that I needed to remember is when we get it in there, it just really calms us. And it slows the game down a little bit. And the tempo in the first half was a little too fast. We were giving up transition baskets.
“In the second half, credit to him. And how about the 4 free throws on the intentional foul, knocking them all down? We come out, hit a 3 right after to get a 7-point swing when we were down 5. That was a big-time play. And it’s just the gravity that he creates around the rim that causes guys to foul. And he did a great job on Devin [McGlockton] tonight as well.”
Chinyelu went 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line against the Commodores, and held Commodores forward Devin McGlockton to just 7 points. Chinyelu’s career-best 20 points easily surpassed his 11.4 points-per-game average.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
