Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Freshman guard Riley Kugel scored 21 points, electrifying the home crowd with 17 of them in the second half to lead the Florida Gators from an 12-point deficit to a 79-67 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday night at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. Kugel, the sensational coming-of-age rookie from Orlando, had his eighth straight double-figure scoring game. He had just four points in the first half after making only two of six shots and missing both 3-point attempts, as the Tigers took a four-point lead at the break and moved it to 11 four minutes into the second half by hitting five of their first field-goal tries. But then Kugel a 3 to get the home team going, his first of four for the period, and that didn't count the old-fashion 3-point play he converted with 2:26 to go that put the Gators up a dozen, 44-32, and blew up the O'Dome. He finished eight of 14 from the floor and four of seven from distance over 32 minutes, with several of his buckets pure NBA-looking plays he made on his own, as he tallied 11 of 13 UF points during a 13-4 run that changed the game. Sophomore guard Will Richard added eight points, including three 3s, and six rebounds and kept UF within striking distance with his second straight highly efficient performance on the offensive end (7-10 floor, 3-6 arc). After shooting just 38.7 percent in the first half, UF rose up to 53.3 in the second, including 7-for-14 from the 3-point line, and turned the ball over just twice during the final 20 minutes. Fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton, one of three players honored during pre-game "Senior Night" ceremonies, had 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Tigers, who shot just 36.7 percent in the second half and clearly were bothered by the full-court pressure the Gators rolled out when they fell back, were led by forward KJ Williams' 19 points and nine rebounds, with forward Derek Fountain adding 12 points and 12 boads. WHAT IT MEANS: The Gators, with wins in their final two regular-season games, can do no worse than a .500 record on the season and thus will avoid the first losing record since 2014-15. And by finishing .500 in league play, Florida will avoid its first losing SEC mark since that same '14-15 season. As for the SEC Tournament situation, read on. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Kugel, Kugel and Kugel. Wow. 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: The win was fourth for the Gators this season when they trailed by double-digits. The other three comebacks: Down 19 at Florida State (76-67); 13 vs. Georgia at home (82-75); 11 vs. 20th-ranked Missouri at home (73-64).

UP NEXT: Florida (16-15, 9-9) will be the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament at Nashville, which begins Wednesday night with play-in games among the bottom four seeds. The Gators will face 9-seed Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9), which plays at Vanderbilt later Saturday, but will get the 9-seed over 10-seed Arkansas based on head-to-head result. Unfortunately, the winner of the 8/9 game gets No. 1 seed, No. 2-ranked and SEC champion Alabama, which has a bye into Friday's quarterfinals. UF defeated Mississippi State 61-59 at Starkville on Jan. 21, but were bombarded by Bama 97-69 on Feb. 8. Both of those games, of course, were played with fifth-year forward Colin Castleton, the team's scoring and rebouinding leader who is out for the season with a broken hand.