Florida Gators
Tennessee
Horford Leads No. 1 Gators Past Tennessee, 94-78
Saturday, February 3, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Junior Al Horford (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) scored a game and career-high 22 points while recording his ninth double-double of the season to lead No. 1 ranked Florida (21-2, 8-0) to its 14th consecutive victory defeating Tennessee (15-8, 3-5), 94-78, on Saturday afternoon at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in front of a crowd of 12,222.
Florida improved to 8-0 in Southeastern Conference play with the win marking the best league start in school history while the 14 consecutive wins tie the 2001-02 and 2002-03 squads for the third-longest winning streak in UF history. The Gators have now won 16 straight in the O'Dome dating back to last season.
Horford completed the double-double by hauling in 13 rebounds. He picked up 15 of his points in the first half including 7-for-8 from the free throw line as the Gators enter the locker room up 50-24. For Horford, the double-double was the 21st of his career. He also led the Gators with five assists and tied junior Joakim Noah (New York, N.Y.) for the team-best with three blocks
The Gators out-rebounded the Volunteers 43-26 including 26-6 in the first half. The plus-17 rebounding margin for Florida is its largest in conference play and marks the 10th time this season the Gators have had a rebounding margin of plus-10 or more in a game.
The Gators started the game on a 9-0 run and did not allowed Tennessee to score until 16:04 mark in the first half before going on to build the 26-point lead at the half, the largest half-time lead in SEC play this season. Noah helped build the halftime advantage by also scoring in double figures in the first period with 10. Florida also built the advantage by shooting 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the free throw line in the first half while Tennessee shot just 22.2 (2-for-9) from the free throw line in the period.
In fact, the Gators utilized the free throw throughout the game finishing with 25 points from the charity stripe. Florida made 12 consecutive free throws as a team from 9:03 in the first half to 11:33 in the second half including seven by Horford. Horford finished the game with a career-high 12 free throws made, doubling his previous career-high of six.
Noah finished the game with 19 as a five Gators scored in double digits. Junior Taureen Green (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) netted 18 points while shooting 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Green has now scored in double figures in seven consecutive games. Junior Corey Brewer (Portland, Tenn.) and sophomore Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) each contributed 12 points. For Hodge, it was his first double figures game since Dec. 20 vs. Stetson.
Senior Lee Humphrey (Maryville, Tenn.) netted six points by making two three-pointers. He extended his streak of games with a basket from beyond the arc to 22.
Tennessee battled throughout the second half, but only got as close as 14 points with 5:46 remaining. After no Volunteer had more than five points in the first half, three UT players went on to finish in double figures. Wayne Chism led Tennessee with 19 points while JaJuan Smith added 16 points and Ramar Smith contributed 13. JaJaun Smith was held below the 20-point scoring mark for the first time in five games.
The Gators venture on the road for their next two contests. On Wednesday, Feb. 7, UF travels to Athens, Ga. to take on the Georgia Bulldogs with a 7:30 p.m. ET tip-off. Then, on Saturday, Feb. 10, the Gators tip-off at 9 p.m. ET in Lexington, Ky. against the Kentucky Wildcats.
