KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Florida team that played so poorly not 48 hours earlier in a dismal loss at Ole Miss was not the one that showed up Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Center. On paper, yes, they were the same depleted bunch that had to play without the services of two top front court components, but the Gators were defying their poor season-long shooting numbers, doing so on the road against No. 18 Tennessee and the nation's fifth-rated defense.
UF was hitting outside shots, moving the basketball and playing off the screens of blossoming and improving junior center Jason Jitoboh. The Gators had a 10-point lead with less than three minutes to go in the half when a missed Florida shot sent bodies chasing for the rebound.
The sequence ended with Jitoboh, the 6-foot-11, 285-pounder, sprawled across the floor, bleeding and holding his face after taking a finger to the eye from UT 6-9 forward Olivier Nkamhoua.
Jitoboh was helped to the bench and to the UF locker room at halftime with an eye injury. He did not return — to the game or to the bench — as the Volunteers rallied by shooting 50 percent in the second half against their further depleted and undersized opponent and came from behind for a 78-71 victory.
"We weren't able to take advantage of anything on the interior," said UF coach Mike White, who started the night without leading scorer and rebounder Colin Castleton for a third straight game, and had backup forward CJ Felder limited to less than three minutes due to a non-COVID illness. "We were just throwing anything out there in the second half."
No Jitoboh. No Castleton. No Felder. No chance, right?
Actually, the Gators (12-8, 3-5) gave themselves one, holding the lead until less than 11 minutes remained and keeping within striking distance the rest of the way. UF, playing its second game in less than 48 hours and its third in five days, just didn't have enough firepower to keep pace with the Vols (14-5, 5-3).
"We don't want to make any excuses for ourselves," fifth-year senior forward Anthony Duruji said. "There's going to be adversity every game. iI's about how you respond. We took a step. We didn't come out with a win, but we have to continue to get better."
Fifth-year senior forward Anthony Duruji did a little bit of everything, namely played the "5" spot in the Gators' small-ball rotation afterJason Jitoboh was forced from the game.
Junior guard Santiago Vescovi scored 23 points, hitting five of eight 3-pointers and all six of his free throws to go with three rebounds and four assists. A pair of freshman guards, Kennedy Chandler and Zeigler, combined for 28 points, four 3s on eight tries, seven rebounds and nine assists. Their play allowed Tennessee to overcome a first half of 12 turnovers that had the Vols down by eight at the break, but poised to pounce against the small-ball defense UF was forced to play.
"Sometimes we can get sloppy," Vescovi said of UT's mistake-marred first half. The Gators took advantage of the Vols' messy play by scoring 17 points off the first-half turnovers, but better yet by making shots. On Monday, they hit 35 percent overall and went 4-for-29 from the 3-point line in the 70-54 loss at Ole Miss. At halftime, UF was at nearly 52 percent and had seven 3-point makes by four different players.
But the Gators no longer had Jitoboh and UT already owned a 21-7 advantage on the glass.
"We have other guys on scholarship here," said White, who in addition to playing small had to call on little-used junior-college transfer Tounghach Gatkek to mix it up inside for extended minutes, also. "We had opportunities and just couldn't get it done."
Tennessee runs of 9-1 and 9-0 erased what was an early second-half Florida lead of 10 points. The Gators were up 55-52 after a putback by Anthony Duruji (16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 turnovers), but that was where the UT run of nine straight commenced, courtesy of two free throws from Josiah-Jordan James (9 points, 9 rebounds), a steal and go-ahead fast break layup by Vescovi, a 3-pointer by James, then a posting bank shot from backup forward John Fulkerson (9 points).
The two teams watch as Santiago Vescovi (25) drops free throws with 59 seconds left to basically sealed the outcome.
Twice Florida managed to get back within three, but an old-time three-point play by Fulkerson nixed the first and two free throws by Santiago — after a fallaway 3-ball by fifth-year senior point guard Tyree Appleby (16 points, 7 assists, 5 turnovers) made it 74-71 with 31.3 seconds left — took the game out of reach.
In between those plays, the Gators wound up on the wrong end of some officiating controversy. With the clock approaching a minute left and Tennessee up by four, a scramble for a rebound after a missed UT shot ended up in the hands of UF guard Phlandrous Fleming Jr., who was ruled to have been fouled on the play. Fleming, an 80-percent free-throw shooter, was looking at a one-and-one, with 59 seconds to play and a chance to cut the deficit to just two. But after going to the monitor to review how much time remained, the crew changed the call to a hook-and-hold technical foul on Duruji while players jostled for the loose ball.
The Vols got to Santiago free throws and possession of the ball. Game over.
For practical purposes, it was probably over with 2:27 to go in the first half and Jitoboh lying on the floor. His status will be up to the UF medical team.
"Jason has been playing so well," Duruji said. "Losing him was a big hit, but, again, next man up."
