That's how Florida's showdown with 19th-ranked Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament started Friday night. And not in a good way for the Gators.
Twenty-one to two.
That was how the sixth-seeded Gators closed the first half, producing one of their most devastating and impressive runs – more like an ambush – of the season in what they turned into one of the most impressive victories of 2023-24, an historic 102-88 pounding of the third-seeded Crimson Tide at Bridgestone Arena that advanced them into the tournament semifinals for the first time in five years.
UF's All-SEC backcourt duo of Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin combined for 42 points and made 20 of their 21 free-throw attempts as the Gators gave the offensive powerhouse Tide a lesson in how to score points. Another lesson, actually. In three games against Bama this season, Florida has averaged 100.0 points, topped by its 105-87 thumping just 10 days ago in Gainesville. The Gators' 102 points Friday was the program's most in 99 SEC Tournament games, dating to the first event in 1933.
Clayton (22 points, 4 assists) and Pullin (19, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) were two of five teammates to reach double-figure scoring. Grad forward Tyrese Samuel finished with 18 points and four rebounds, freshman backup forward Alex Condon had 12 off the bench, with junior Will Richard pitching in 10. Backup freshman forward Thomas Haugh and seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.
"Alabama is a great team, but we beat them pretty comfortably tonight," UF coach Todd Golden said. "I thought it was a great effort from our group."
UF shot nearly 51 percent for the game, went 31 of 36 from the free throw line (86.1 percent), had more rebounds (39-35) and turned the ball over just seven times against a team that thrives on steals and transition opportunities. Defensively, Florida limited Alabama, ranked No. 2 in the nation in offensive efficiency coming in, to just 46.5 percent and only six of 25 from the 3-point line (24.0).
ForwardTyrese Samuel (4) brought some thunder on this dunk in the second half.
All told, the Gators looked a lot more like the bunch that was playing its best basketball a couple weeks ago.
"Tonight was very important in just getting back to what we know we can do," junior guard Will Richard said in an unspoken reference to the humbling, regular-season ending loss up the road at Vanderbilt just six days before. "Playing our role, playing hard, playing together, having fun out there, trying to win."
As for that latter point, Florida (23-10), which is seeking its first SEC Tournament crown since the 2014 team that went to the Final Four, is in the semifinals for the first time since 2019 – just the second time over their last nine, dating to 2015 – and will square off Saturday against seventh-seed Texas A&M (20-13) around 3:30 p.m. (ET). The Aggies have won five straight against the Gators by a combined 10 points, with each game going down to the final possession.
Fourth-seeded Auburn (25-7) and ninth-seeded Mississippi State (21-12) will meet in the other semifinal after three of the tournament's top four seeds -- Tennessee (1), Kentucky (2) and Alabama (3) -- were eliminated in the quarters for the first time since 1981.
The SEC championship game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. Florida has a rare chance to be there.
"Definitely big to get a win like this in this fashion," said Pullin, who the night before fouled out in UF's narrow 85-80 second-round escape against 11-seed Georgia. "I think it's just staying together and doing what we're supposed to do."
It did not start that way.
Not two minutes into the game, Golden was calling a timeout after watching Alabama hit four of its first five shots, including three layups, while Florida was missing its first four, to fall behind 8-0.
"Obviously concerning," Golden said. "After that, I thought we played fantastic the rest of the way."
Or as Bama coach Nate Oats put it, "Things were rolling ... then they got adjusted."
All-SEC point guardZyon Pullin (0) takes it to the rack for two against the Tide.
Florida settled down, talked a few things through and got back into the game relatively easily.
"I thought we played pretty poised the rest of the night," Condon said.
He and Haugh, the freshman BFFs, were huge reasons for that. The rookie duo spelled the starting front court of Samuel and 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten and good things started to happen. Halfway through the period, the game was tied at 17. Four times over the next four minutes, Bama had four-point leads, the last time when All-SEC guard Mark Sears (22 points) knifed through the UF defense for a reverse layup to put the Tide up 31-27.
Then it began. First Clayton dropped an NBA 3-pointer to get his team within one at the 5:22 mark. Then he hit two free throws for the first lead of the game. His points started an avalanche of 17 straight, with a driving layup by Aaron Estrada (17 points) breaking the run at the 1:10 mark. Haugh, though, answered with a driving layup of his own and Richard got a run-out dunk with 20 seconds left to cap the first-half scoring and send the Gators to the locker room up 48-33 and with all the momentum following their 21-2 blitz.
Throughout the spree, the Gators had Condon and Haugh on the floor, battling for rebounds, tips and guarding in a manner that set the tone for the rest of the team; and the rest of the game.
"I think we balance each other out a bit, just crashing for rebounds," Condon said of his teaming with Haugh. "It feels like unlimited energy when we're out there playing together."
Freshman forward Thomas Haugh(10) was at his bouncing, energetic best on his way to scoring seven points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
The Gators took those feels into the second half, scoring the period's first four points (making it a 25-2 run), surging to a 21-point lead through three minutes and taking it all the way to 24 with 10 minutes to play.
Florida's collective foot never came off the pedal, something the team had struggled with when building big leads at times this season.
"Listen, Alabama is not the type of team that you can ever take a breath," Golden said. "When you play them, regardless of whether we had the 15-point lead or not, we knew we were going to have to keep scoring, staying aggressive and playing hard for the remainder of the game if we wanted to win."
Indeed, Bama shot better than 51 percent in the second half and scored 55 points. Florida, though, shot nearly 52 percent and scored 54 points, including a 21-for-24 second half at the free throw line just 24 hours after going 23-for-41 in the 85-80 second-round slugfest against Georgia. This was a challenge the Gators were up for.
While it's March and all the talk is about the upcoming "madness," before the Gators look to that tournament – and yes, they'll be in it for the first time in two years, and with an enviable seed, thanks to this latest conquest – they have plenty to play for this weekend still.
"I was telling everyone we have to pack for four days because we're not coming here to just play around," Samuel said. "No. We're trying to win this and go to the tournament with extra confidence and make sure teams know about us and that we can go and get these games in March."
They got a big one Friday and looked like the best version of themselves along the way.
"After the first two minutes, I felt like we were the team we've been for the last 30 games. Really the last month and a half of conference play where we really stepped it up," Golden said. "Just a physical team that plays hard, with no fear of failure. I think our guys did a really good job of that tonight. Even when we got the big lead in the second half, we never relaxed. We kept pushing it, kept staying aggressive, kept getting to the foul line, never really allowed them to make it a game."
