Neither Florida nor Alabama trailed in their respective Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal contests.
Something will have to give one day later when the second-seeded Gators (28-4) and third-seeded Crimson Tide (25-7) battle in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.
No. 4-ranked Florida recorded a 95-81 victory over No. 21 Missouri, while No. 5 Alabama demolished No. 15 Kentucky 99-70 in their Friday contests.
At stake Saturday is a spot in Sunday’s SEC championship game. Top-seeded Auburn will face fourth-seeded Tennessee on the other side of the bracket.
The Gators notched a 99-94 road win over Alabama on March 5, but now the stakes are even bigger with NCAA Tournament seeding implications hanging in the balance.
“We’re going to have to really lock into being significantly better against them,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “They’re one of the better teams in the country. They’re fighting for a 1 seed like we are. This will be a big game for both the SEC championship and a 1 seed.”
Florida coach Todd Golden repeatedly has stated that his team is shooting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA field.
Sweeping Alabama would be a big step since the Crimson Tide are one of the other candidates.
Friday’s game against seventh-seeded Missouri was the first of the tournament for the Gators, and they didn’t look rusty when it came to their shooting.
Florida shot a stellar 61.8 percent from the field, with Alijah Martin (17 points) making 7 of 9 shots and Walter Clayton Jr. (team-high 18 points) hitting 6 of 8.
The ball-handling was a different story as the Gators committed 16 turnovers. Clayton had a team-high five.
“We had some careless and uncharacteristic turnovers,” Golden said. “We stepped out of bounds twice in the corner. Back foot, one-handed passes. Things we generally do a really good job of we just didn’t do a good enough job (Friday).”
Will Richard added 17 points and Thomas Haugh came up big with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He knocked down 10 of 12 free-throw attempts.
Haugh, a sophomore, is shooting 81.3 percent from the line this season after making a porous 45.7 percent last season.
“I worked a lot in the summer,” he said. “My foul-shot percentage was really bad last year. That was an emphasis for me, that and 3-point percentage. Kind of showed in the game today. I was able to step up and knock ’em down.”
Haugh missed his lone trey on Friday and is shooting 34.6 percent from behind the arc. He shot at a 25.5 percent clip last season.
Alabama enjoyed a staggering 29-6 edge in points off turnovers while manhandling sixth-seeded Kentucky. The Crimson Tide went 3-0 against the Wildcats this season.
Alabama’s Labaron Philon led the way with 21 points on Friday while Jarin Stevenson contributed 16 points off the bench.
The breakout performance was pivotal for Stevenson, who had scored in single digits in seven straight games since notching a career-best 22 in a 103-80 rout of host Texas on Feb. 11.
“I was super happy for Jarin,” Oats said. “We needed him to play well. He needs his confidence. He got his confidence going (Friday night). Hopefully we see his confidence at a really high level moving forward here in March.”
Stevenson made 6 of 8 shots from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, against the Wildcats.
“I feel like just being confident, making plays, knowing my teammates have my back,” Stevenson said. “I feel like that’s really helped me.”
In the recent matchup, on March 5, Florida’s Alex Condon scored a career-high 27 points and collected 10 rebounds, and Clayton had 22 points and eight assists.
Mark Sears had 30 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Crimson Tide.
–Field Level Media
