We sent them to the foul line, they stepped up and made their free throws, and they played great down the stretch,” said Scotty Hopson, who scored 19 for Tennessee. In the first half, the Gators went to the line only four times. “We weren’t dictating where Florida could go.” “We weren’t effective communicating,” Pearl said. Pounding the ball inside, Florida reached the bonus with more than 12 1/2 minutes left in the game. They went 14 of 17 from the field and really piled up the points at the foul line, going 24 of 33. The Gators were about as efficient as a team could be over the final 20 minutes. Whatever he said at halftime, it sure worked. “We were just kind of out of sorts a bit,” Donovan said. He sparked Tennessee with a three-point play and scored their final points of the period on a 3-pointer. Harris carried the Vols, accounting for more than half their offensive output with 18 points. Florida’s last 11 possessions went like this: seven missed shots, another miss on the front end of a 1-and-1, and three turnovers. But Tennessee turned up the defensive pressure and Florida crumbled.Įrving Walker’s floating jumper gave the Gators a 29-25 lead - their final points of the half. The Gators were cruising in the first half, going up 25-13 on Boynton’s lay-in off a pass from Chandler Parsons. … But I know a lot of great teams are out there, and so we’ll wait until Sunday and find out if and where we’re going.” “I still feel like we are a team that’s worthy of the tournament. “Obviously, we could have improved our seeding tremendously by beating Florida,” Pearl said. Tobias Harris led Tennessee with 25 points. Despite the loss and a fifth-place finish in the SEC East, the Vols could land a spot in the 68-team NCAA tournament field based on their solid RPI and one of the nation’s toughest schedules. “I thought we played well together in the second half.”įlorida advanced to face Vanderbilt or Mississippi State in Saturday’s semifinals, while Tennessee will await its fate on Selection Sunday. “We weren’t playing selfishly, but we were playing as individuals,” coach Billy Donovan said. Boynton delivered a crushing blow, a 3-pointer with 4:26 remaining, posing with his hand outstretched in front of the Gators’ bench. The Gators failed to score over the final 6:24, dragging off the court as if they weren’t sure what hit them.īut Florida shook it off in the second half. Tennessee (19-14) closed the first half on a 21-4 run and went to the locker room up 34-29. “When you allow a team to score 56 points in the second half or shoot the way they shot and send them to the foul line as often as we sent them, you’ve got no chance to win,” he said. But afterward, Pearl didn’t make excuses. Not wanting to pick up another T, the coach twice sent his players over to the officials to complain about calls. The elder Pearl was so upset he ripped off his jacket, revealing bright orange suspenders that matched his orange tie. The Vols’ frustration boiled over when Pearl barked about a call his son Steven didn’t get, immediately drawing a technical. “Their offense was absolutely on fire,” Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said, “and our defense was nonexistent.” The result was a 56-point half - its highest of the season. All five starters were in double figures for the Gators (25-6), who picked up their trophy for winning the regular-season title before the game, then played like champions in the second half.įlorida missed only three shots from the field and got to the foul line a staggering 33 times. 12 Florida rebounded after closing the first half with a scoreless stretch of nearly 6 1/2 minutes, beating Tennessee 85-74 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. The Gators weren’t about to let that happen. ATLANTA - The way Florida played at the end of the first half, it looked as though the Southeastern Conference champions might be one-and-done in the league tournament.
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