GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Let's start with the obvious. The Florida Gators pulled off the second-biggest comeback in the program's history Saturday night. 

After spotting Alabama a 21-point lead inside two minutes remaining in the first half, UF began chipping away here, cutting some more there, until a remarkable sequence of events — and big plays by the home team — led to an epic 104-98 double-overtime defeat of the Crimson Tide in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams before a loud and lit crowd at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. It was a truly a remarkable, if not magical night at the O'Dome. 

Freshman wing Scottie Lewis, sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard, and grad-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. each hit a pair of free throws over the final 40.4 seconds of the second overtime, as the Gators (9-4, 1-0) bucked up on defense against the Tide and scored the game's final six points. That aforementioned trio, in fact, accounted for 47 of their team's final 52 points over the last 12 minutes of regulation and both overtimes, led by Nembhard's career-high 25 points, plus four assists. 

When it was done, UF had eclipsed the two previous record-comebacks, both from 18 points down; the last at home against Alabama on Feb. 14, 2007, as well as a road win at South Carolina on Feb. 24, 1993. 

"That was a game of trust," said Lewis, who after a tough first half (like most of his teammates) tallied a first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. "That was something to watch and something to be a part of."
 
Winning after being down 21 was incredible enough, but the final two minutes of regulation were positively numbing; maybe more implausible than the 21-point rally. 

"I'll have to go back and look," UF coach Mike White said of a game that in the second half featured just his fourth technical foul in his five seasons. "It's kind of a blur." 

Here's what he'll see. 

Alabama (7-6, 0-1) led by eight, 80-72, with less than two minutes to play when Keyontae Johnson (10 points, 12 rebounds) hit 3-pointer from the corner to make it a five-point game. Florida got a stop on the ensuing Tide possession, but Nembhard misfired on a 3 that led to a UF foul and one of two free throws from guard James Bolden. Six-point game with 46 seconds to go. 

Down came the Gators, with Nembhard driving into traffic, finishing deep and getting fouled. He made the "and-one" free throw to make the score 81-78 with 40 seconds left. Timeout Tide, who out of the stoppage threw over the UF defense to guard John Petty Jr. (17 points, 7 rebounds) for a run-out layup and collective groan from the O'Dome faithful. Alabama was up five again with 29 seconds remaining. 

Over, right?

"It was a great game that showed our resiliency and ability to respond," Blackshear said. 

Indeed, it was. Blackshear swished a clutch 3-pointer, his second of the game, with 25.2 seconds to go. Two-point game. Again, Bama called a timeout and managed to inbound the ball to point guard Kira Lewis Jr. (17 points, but 7-for-25 from the floor, plus 6 rebounds, 4 steals), who instantly was swarmed and had to call a quick timeout in the front of the UF bench. 

And that's when everything really changed.

"The stuff that coaches lose sleep over definitely went the wrong way," was how Alabama coach Nate Oats would describe the next play about 40 minutes later. "You can't do that."

What his team did — what inbound passer Petty did — was try to lob the ball to forward Alex Reese in the backcourt; toward the UF basket. The pass was poor and picked off by Gators sophomore guard Noah Locke, who dribbled in for a contested, scooping layup that tied the game at 83-all with 21 seconds still to play, as the joint went berserk.

Said White: "The way I remember it — and there were a thousand plays and it's emotional and exhausting — was Noah made a great read on it and brought in the ball and immediately scored." 
 
Locke and his teammates were coached how to defend that very play because the Tide had run it earlier. More than once, actually.

"They did it like three times in row, and they ended up putting me in for the third [one]," said Locke, who finished with 18 points over a team-high 45 minutes. "I knew it was going to be the outlet, and it was like a lob pass, so I just ran through it."

Alabama had a last-ditch shot to win the game, but Lewis missed a long 3-ball. 

"When you're up 21 on the road to open SEC play, you deserve to win," Oats aid. "But we didn't do what we needed to."

Twice the Gators led by three in the first extra period and twice Petty, making up for his miscue, buried 3-pointers. UF had a chance to win in the final seconds, but Nembhard was short on a shot, and though Johnson kept the ball alive Blackshear's putback left his hand just after the horn sounded. 

Double-OT. 

Florida went up by four, but everything was square again, 98-all, when Kira Lewis drove for a layup with just over a minute to go. At UF's end, the Gators missed twice, but Scottie Lewis emerged with the second and was fouled in the act. His two free throws gave UF its first lead since less than six minutes into the game. The Tide followed with a Lewis miss, which Johnson rebounded and shoveled to Nembhard, whose two free throws bracketing an Alabama timeout made it a four-point game with 24.8 to go. 

Bolden's ensuing missed 3 was rebounded by Blackshear, who sank his two free throws with 10.7 left to take the lead to six and put the history in the books. 

"Our intensity and poise on both ends got a lot better," Blackshear, who finished with season-bests of 24 points and 16 rebounds, said of the team's second-half performance. "We thought we had an opportunity to win the game." 

That was because of a late first-half surge that gave the Gators a flicker of hope. The Tide led, 46-25, and had drilled seven of 14 shots from the 3-point line (compared to UF's one) with just over two minutes to go in the first half. UF, though, scored the period's final seven points and took a little bounce into the halftime locker room. 
 
"Coach told us exactly what we needed to do in the second half to win," said Nembhard, who hit eight of his 19 shots and eight of nine free throws. "We all felt pretty confident in our ability to get it done in the second half."

And look how it turned out. 

Florida scored nine of the first 10 points after intermission, trimming the margin to just six, but the Tide still managed to take it back out to 13. It was nine with 2:56 to go, then eight inside two minutes, then … magic. 

Afterward, to a man, the Gators spoke how this could have been the culture-definer they'd been looking for. 

"Coach White is just someone who always thinks there's a chance," said Lewis, who was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and also blocked three shots. "He puts faith in a lot of us, we put faith in him down the stretch, and it's up to us to buckle down and do everything he says."

Maybe next time, they'll do it from the jump.