GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida basketball was close.
The Stephen O'Connell Center was energetic and the Gators demonstrated a fire they lacked in previous outings.
Veteran guard Kevaughn Allen was playing one of his best games of the season, while freshman guard Noah Locke was light it up from the three-point line.
The scene was set for an upset.
However, Tennessee is ranked third in the country for a reason. In the end the Vols were able to grind out the 78-67 win, while Florida continues to struggle to close out games.
"It was a one-possession game," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "I don't care what the final score was, we all know it was a lot closer than that."
Florida led much of the first half and overcame a second half six-minute scoring drought to keep the game close. With just over a minute to go, the Gators were just down to two when Noah Locke missed s triple.
“I held my breath for a second,” Florida head coach Mike White said. “I thought it was a good look.”
Tennessee's Admiral Schofield would score on the other end, and the Vols would finish the game on a 9-0 run to stretch, after Florida hit the panic button and started taking some wild shots.
“Defensively, down the stretch we made too many mistakes,” White said. “I don’t enjoy saying the same things every game.”
Tennessee's path to victory was their ability to convert on second chance points - most of them through Vols' Kyle Alexander's hard work.
"It feels like he got 15 offensive rebounds," White said of Alexander "It's not just our bigs. Sometimes we've got guards just watching, just watching the fight. If you don't have five in the fight, you're not going to come up with a really big win."
The Gators did have some positive offensive momentum in the matchup. Allen led all scorers with 18 points, while Locke added 16 points.
But as the story goes for Florida this season, the home side failed to maintain the same offensive output in the second half. The Gators went from shooting 9-for-19 from downtown to just 3-for-13 in the second half. Apart from Locke and Allen, Florida's other scorers only shot 3-of-17 from outside the arc.
"I feel like it's a lot of confidence in that," said Locke about Florida's scoring drought. "It can bring anxiety with some players. We just goy to be able to overcome to those things and stay focused out there on floor when it comes to those final four minutes."
Florida made Saturday's game into a contest, however, making a game competitive is not what White and his men are here for.
“It’s gotta be more important to us,” White said. “This can’t be a moral victory. We are the University of Florida. We didn’t do our jobs tonight.”
Florida will have to regroup quickly before Tuesday night's game against Mississippi State.
"Just getting back to the gym and taking a look at the mirror," said Locke. "I feel like the games we have lost I feel like it's been on us and it is stuff we can fix. I feel like we can turn things around if we focus and listen to what coach is saying and doing the things he says."
