Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points and second-seeded Florida outclassed fourth-seeded Tennessee 86-77 on Sunday to win the Southeastern Conference tournament title at Nashville.
Will Richard added 17 points as the No. 4 Gators (30-4) earned the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Florida was awarded a No. 1 seed when the bracket was revealed later Sunday.
Alex Condon recorded 13 points and nine rebounds, Thomas Haugh tallied 11 points and Alijah Martin had 10 points for the Gators, who won their first SEC tournament title since 2014. Clayton was named tournament MVP.
“These guys stepped up and found a way to get this title in the best conference that college basketball has seen in 20 years,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said on the ESPN broadcast.
Jordan Gainey scored a season-best 24 points for No. 8 Tennessee (27-7), which landed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA field.
Zakai Zeigler added 23 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals for the Volunteers, who lost to the Gators for the second time in three meetings this season.
Tennessee leading scorer Chaz Lanier scored 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting before fouling out with 5:29 left.
“I’m really proud of the guys. We just had too many self-inflicted issues today,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “We hurt ourselves too much. But those (Florida) guys had a lot to do with that.”
The Gators shot 42.6 percent from the field, including 9 of 27 from 3-point range. Florida held a 39-25 rebounding advantage. Tennessee made 44.9 percent of its shots and was 8 of 26 from behind the arc.
“Nobody lets the bar drop,” Golden said of the Gators. “They play hard defensively, rebounding and taking care of (the ball). Most of all, they make each other better and it gives us a chance to make a deep run in March.”
Florida led 60-47 just before the midway point of the second half when Gainey’s less-than-a-minute 8-0 flurry brought the Volunteers back in the game.
Gainey began the spurt with a 3-pointer with 9:48 left. He drove through the lane for a hoop and was fouled and made the free throw 27 seconds later. Gainey then made two free throws with 8:56 left to bring Tennessee within 60-55.
A short time later, Clayton buried a 3-pointer to give Florida a 65-57 lead with 8:08 remaining. He nailed another trey with 6:49 left to again put the Gators ahead by eight.
Felix Okpara’s dunk pulled the Volunteers within six with 6:30 left but the Gators answered with eight straight points. Haugh scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer, before Richard made two free throws for a 78-64 advantage with 4:22 left.
Tennessee crept back within eight but Denzel Aberdeen’s layup and Martin’s dunk off Haugh’s lob with 33.3 seconds left sealed it.
“We just lost to maybe the best team in America,” Barnes said. “We lost by three possessions, and off the top of my head I can give you more than three or four things we just didn’t do that we could have done. That’s how fine the line is.”
Richard scored 11 first-half points as the Gators led 39-30 at the break. Gainey scored 10 in the half for Tennessee.
A jumper by Gainey tied the score at 16 with 11:30 left in the first half before the Gators scored nine of the next 10 points as part of a 16-4 burst.
Richard knocked down a trey to cap the surge and five Florida a 32-20 advantage with 5:11 remaining. Aberdeen buried a trey with one second left to give the Gators the nine-point halftime cushion.
–Field Level Media
