Freshman guard Bradley Beal scored 16 points - including six of Florida's final 11 in the game, to help lead Florida to a 73-65 win over Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon at the O'Connell Center.

The Gators have now won 19 consecutive games at home and with the victory are two games up in second place in the SEC. Florida will face league-leader Kentucky Tuesday night in Lexington.

The Gators (19-4, 7-1) are on a seven-game winning streak – their ongest SEC winning streak since 2006. Although Florida shot just 38.3 percent from the field, the Gators forced the No. 25 Commodores (16-7, 5-3) into 17 turnovers, which led to 19 UF points.

Florida relied on a strong, pressing defense in the second half that disrupted the Commodores. 

“That’s the reason why we won the game, our defensive pressure,’’ Beal said. “Because we were able to force turnovers . . . and we got them to play fast, and when they were playing fast it took them out of their offense a little bit.’’

Florida guard Kenny Boynton had a solid defensive effort against Vanderbilt's senior forward Jeffery Taylor, and also had a team-high 18 points.

Boynton said the Gators "really needed that win'' over Vanderbilt with Kentucky next up on the schedule.

Listen to more from Boynton here: