Florida Gators
vs. Tennessee (SEC Tournament)
Gators Knock Out Vols 85-74; Advance to SEC Tournament Semifinals
Saturday, March 12, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
The Gators couldn't miss a shot early in the game. And then they couldn't make one.
But with another early exit from the SEC Tournament looming as a possibility, Florida turned the heat back up in the second half of an 85-74 victory over Tennessee on Friday night at the Georgia Dome. The Gators shot 82 percent (14-for-17) after halftime to put away any chance of a Tennessee upset.
"Florida, in the second half, their offense was absolutely on fire,'' Vols coach Bruce Pearl said. "We weren't dictating where Florida could go, very much like the start of the game. When you allow a team to score 56 points in the second half … you got no chance to win.''
The Gators advanced to face Vanderbilt on Saturday (ABC, 3:30 p.m.) in the SEC semifinals. The Commodores beat Mississippi State, 87-81, late Friday.
All five Florida starters scored in double figures as the Gators knocked off Tennessee for the third time, marking the first time in school history they have beaten the Volunteers three times in one season. Friday was the schools' first meeting in the SEC Tournament since 1989.
The Gators (25-6) came out and quickly jumped to a 25-13 lead behind eight early points from Alex Tyus, hitting six of their first eight shots.
However, the Vols woke up and started firing back to close the first half on a 21-4 behind 18 first-half points from freshman Tobias Harris, who was 8-for-10 from the floor in the first 20 minutes. Harris finished with a game-high 25 points, but he scored only seven after halftime.
"I thought to start the game it was a little bit of fool's gold for us,'' Gators coach Billy Donovan said. "We got off to such a great start offensively. We shot the ball really, really well. I thought Tennessee missed some opportunities early in the game. They got down by 10.
"And we went through a stretch there … where I don't even know if we scored. We weren't very efficient on offense, we weren't guarding very well, and then I thought our guys really settled down in going into the second half.''
For a while, it looked as if Florida's hot start might go to waste.
The Gators went cold late in the opening half, failing to score in the final 6 minutes, 22 seconds to allow the Vols to take a 34-29 lead at the break. The Gators hit just one field goal in the final nine minutes before halftime.
"It was kind of a shock for us,'' junior guard Erving Walker said. "We know they're an aggressive team, but they didn't start off like that. And they started hand-checking and swiping at the ball and we just weren't aggressive enough with the ball. And they got some steals and some easy lay-ups.''
However, the second half belonged to the Gators after a basket by Scotty Hopson tied the game 50-50.
Florida scored the game's next seven points to open a 25-12 run and never looked back thanks to a strong second-half shooting performance from sophomore guard Kenny Boynton, who led the Gators with 22 points. Walker added 17 points, Vernon Macklin, 15, Chandler Parsons, 12, and Tyus finished with 10.
The Gators are playing in the SEC semifinals for the first time since winning the tournament three consecutive seasons from 2005-07. That's a step in the right direction, but Donovan hopes Friday's win wasn't the highlight of his team's trip to Atlanta.
"They understand that the goal is to try to play on Sunday,'' he said. "I think they understand what we're playing for.''
The first half was full of momentum swings, the first a 7-0 spurt by the Gators to go up 16-6 on Tyus' dunk on a pass from Boynton. The Gators took their biggest lead at 25-13 in the opening half as Tennessee looked sluggish for much of the first 10 minutes.
"Well, it wasn't a game for the purists – a lot of fits and a lot of starts,'' Pearl said. "We didn't start with any energy, and that was disappointing."
Tennessee (19-14) lost seven of their final 11 games and now must wait until Sunday if the downward spiral cost it a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Early on in Friday's game, the Gators scored 16 points in the paint in the first 11 minutes of the game; over the final nine minutes of the first half the Vols held Florida scoreless in the paint, which forced the No. 1-seed Gators to rely more on Boynton and Walker in the second half to regain control.
It also didn't help that Florida committed eight turnovers in the first half.
But in the end, the Gators overcame their late first-half struggles to win their opening game in the SEC Tournament for the third consecutive season. They had a sense of relief sweep over them as they walked off the court.
"I think that to come out in one year and beat the same team three times, I think that's tough,'' Boynton said. "I think we were definitely excited, just to beat them and definitely to be advancing to the next round.''
Florida finished 27-for-46 from the floor (58.7 percent), its second-best shooting performance of the season. Meanwhile, the Vols failed to hold onto their halftime lead thanks in part to shooting 39 percent (12 of 31) in the second half.
