GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With 4:15 remaining and the Florida Gators enjoying a fat, 18-point advantage, the Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center lights suddenly dimmed down and an oh-so-familiar tune began blaring through the building for the first time, much to the delight of the biggest, most vibrant and boisterous crowd of the season.
I Won't Back Down
And the Gators didn't. Not even close.
That ol' big-lead bugaboo that had plagued the team too many times this season never had a chance Tuesday night. The Gators didn't really need Tom Petty, but both the team and its adoring O'Dome inhabitants welcomed his accompaniment on the way to obliterating 16th-ranked Alabama 105-87 in their Southeastern Conference clash and home finale that virtually locked up a NCAA Tournament at-large berth.
"It was special in here," UF junior wing Will Richard said of the atmosphere.
"Best crowd in the country," added forward Tyrese Samuel.
Five UF players posted in double figures, led by Richard, who shook off a couple tough shooting games in succession to tally a team-high 23 points on eight of 12 from the floor, three of five from distance and four of four at the free-throw line. Junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. had 22 points, including a 15-for-16 effort at the line, followed by Samuel and Zyon Pullin, the grad-transfers who both finished with 19 points in their final "Senior Night" home game. Samuel, a 53.4-percent free-throw shooter on the season, went 9-for-9 from the line. Pullin was 8-for-8, played 33 minutes without a turnover and helped engineer an offense that scored a whopping 61 second-half points, shot nearly 47 percent for the game, tallied a season-high 27 fast-break points and attacked the Bama defense enough to go 40-for-46 (87 percent) from the line, sinking the most free throws by a UF team since 1998. The 105 points were the program's most in a home SEC regulation game since 1971. It also marked the 10th time the Gators scored at least 90 points this season, a team record.
Florida (21-9, 11-7), with 10 wins in its last 13 games, now has its most regular-season victories since the 2017 season, with a chance to build on the momentum when it closes the league slate Saturday at Vanderbilt. The Gators, whose 15-1 home record marked the most O'Dome wins in a season since the unbeaten 2014 Final Four team, will be no worse than the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville, Tenn.
Not bad for Coach Todd Golden, whose first band of Gators went 16-17 in 2022-23.
Now look at 'em.
"I feel confident that we can compete with anybody on a neutral floor over the next couple weeks," Golden said.
For sure, the best teams in the country just may have had their hands full with the Gators Tuesday, given the way they attacked on offense and bounced back on defense – three days after an atrocious second half in a loss at South Carolina – against a Bama scoring machine that came into the game ranked No. 1 in college basketball in overall offensive efficiency. The Crimson Tide (20-10, 12-5) led for just 2:27, all midway through the first half, and played from no less than 15 points behind – and as many as 23 – over the game's final 12 minutes.
With moves this this, Walter Clayton Jr. (1) drew eight Crimson Tide fouls on his way to making 15 of 16 free throws and scoring 22 points.
Bama guard Mark Sears, a candidate for SEC Player of the Year, led all scorers with 33 points, with an astounding 29 of them coming in the second half. Sears went 10-for-20 overall, hit four of six 3s and all nine of his free throws, but along the way really only traded baskets with the Gators. The Tide shot 44.3 percent for the game, four points below their season average, and 21.7 percent from the 3-point line, well below their 37.5 mark for the season. They also attempted 21 fewer free throws than the Gators, something Coach Nate Oats took note of afterward – "It's not a recipe for winning games when you get doubled up at the free-throw line," he said – though also giving the Gators their due.
"They were very physical with us," Oats said. "We had some offensive frustrations and some defensive letdowns."
Florida had little of either. Alex Condon (21) announces his second-half 3-point play.
Though UF missed nine of its first 10 shots, the Gators only trailed by as many as three points (that was in the game's first three minutes) and last trailed at 19-18, with eight minutes to go in the opening period. The score was tied at 21 when an offensive rebound and putback by Alex Condon (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks) started a 10-2 run highlighted by a crowd-pleasing steal and slam from Richard, that had the Gators up by eight. They never trailed thereafter. The margin was nine at halftime, 44-35, as UF improved from 10-percent shooting from the first five minutes to 48.5 through the first 20.
The Gators scored the first three points of the second half to move ahead by 12 and only once the rest of the way, at 53-44, led by less than double digits. The lead was 15 six minutes into the period after a Condon 3-pointer, then 20 with 11:25 to go after Condon's old-time 3-point play, and then 23 after two Richard free throws at the 7:19 mark.
"A big part of our talk to the team down the stretch, once we got that lead to 20 or whatever it was, was they can't catch us unless we give them 3s. They just can't," Golden said. "We were going to be able to make enough baskets or get to the foul line enough."
It would have been natural for some in the oh-so-excited O'Dome to think about those blown leads this season. Like against Kentucky (up 11 late in first half of the SEC opener at home). At Texas A&M (up 13 late in first half). At Alabama two weeks ago (up 10 inside eight minutes left). At South Carolina on Saturday (up 10 with 12 minutes to go). Or even the heart-attack home wins against Georgia (up 21 with 15 left in an overtime victory) and LSU (up 20 with 15 left in two-point escape).
But the Gators had the very answers Golden was talking about.
"It's definitely not a good feeling letting a team come back on you," Clayton said. "I think it's a mental standpoint for us. We've just got to be mentally tough. Go up 10, wherever you're playing, and just keep your foot on the gas. You can't let up."
