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• Kentucky leery of South Carolina's defense
• Georgia still believes it can finish No. 1
• Saban praises Tide, despite mistakes

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - 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. 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.

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.

"You can do one of two things: You can humble yourself or life will humble you. I think it's a lot easier to find a way to humble yourself."

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.

Florida, relying on a pressing, trapping defense, played one of its best halves of the season. Vanderbilt committed eight early turnovers and missed open shots around the basket. And the team's top scoring duo, Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy, struggled all over the court.

Foster and Ogilvy, who entered the game averaging nearly 39 points, combined for just three in the first half.

Ogilvy, outplayed all game by Marreese Speights, fouled out with 3:41 remaining. He had nine points and four rebounds. Foster finished with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting.

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.