No. 8 Tennessee avenged its January dud versus Florida with a dominant defensive display against the No. 5 Gators on Saturday in the rematch in Knoxville, winning 64-44 to score its largest win vs. a top-five team in school history and first since defeating No. 1 Alabama on Feb. 15, 2023. The Vols’ win came with only seven scholarship players available with second-leading scorer Zakai Zeigler and leading rebounder Igor Milicic Jr. both sidelined due to injury and illness, respectively.
Florida handed Tennessee its first loss of the season on Jan. 7 in Gainesville in stunning fashion, 73-43, after Tennessee opened its season 14-0. The revenge game for Tennessee was arguably more impressive as it held Florida — No. 7 in points per game and No. 3 in adjusted efficiency on offense — to its fewest points in a game since Feb. 10, 1990, when it scored just 40 points in a road loss to Georgetown, and to its lowest field goal percentage (24.5%) in a single-game on record, per CBB Reference data, which dates back to 1938-39.
Tennessee stumbled into Saturday shorthanded with losses in three of its last four games and struggling vs. teams ranked inside the top five of the AP poll. It snapped a two-game skid for the Vols and a four-game losing streak vs. teams ranked inside the top-five to boot.
Florida’s high-octane offense, led by Walter Clayton Jr., finished the day shooting 13 of 53 from the floor and 4 of 27 from 3-point range. Clayton, who took several hard spills in the game and seemed to be battling an ankle injury, led the team in scoring with 10 points but missed 10 of his 13 field goal attempts on the day.
Tennessee’s offense didn’t dominate, but it did more than enough to run away with Chaz Lanier leading all scorers with 19 points and Jordan Gainey added 16 points. Lanier’s big outing included five 3s, two shy of matching a single-game high on the season with Gainey (1 of 5) making the only 3 on the day.
With the win, Tennessee remains just three games off the lead of Auburn in the SEC while pushing Florida to 2.5 games back of the Tigers. That puts eight teams in the SEC within three games or closer of Auburn for the conference lead with the halfway point of regular-season conference play fast approaching.
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