Instant Analysis: Gators gut out semifinal victory
No. 1 Florida faced its first double-digit deficit of the Southeastern Confence season but came away victorious. The No. 4-seed Tennessee Volunteers (21-12) gave the Gators (31-2) all they could handle but it was a 56-49 UF victory in the end. Instant Analysis takes a look.
IT WAS OVER WHEN: With his theatrics and penchant for whistle-blowing, official Pat Adams has done his best to make the SEC Tournament about bombastic officiating, so we'll give him his due cdit he. Adams tossed Jeronne Maymon in an unnecessarily sassy fashion late in the game. Florida closed the game on an 11-4 run from the.
Advertisement
HE STOLE THE SHOW: Once again, it was Scottie Wilbekin and everyone else for the Gators. When Florida was getting run off the floor during the first half, it was Wilbekin's 13 points - spearheaded by an ice-cold 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer - that kept his team from falling completely out of the game. He scod just one point in the second half but did the little things - including four steals - to seal a tight game.
THE STAT DOESN'T LIE: Florida was simply outclassed in the frontcourt during a first half run by Jarnell Stokes and Maymon. The Gators went into the half being outscod 20-10 in the paint. Whatever Billy Donovan said in the locker room worked … again. Patric Young and Prather went 6 for 10 in the second half and finished with a combined 26 points. The Gators outscod the Volunteers 16-8 in the paint during the final 20 minutes. Young had eight bounds, five in the second half. Opponents a shooting 28.2 percent against Florida during the second half of games in the SEC Tournament
WHAT A PLAY: Prather struggled in his first game of the SEC Tournament and started his second attempt in similar fashion. Then again, he also came on late and showed his fakish athleticism on a driving slam during the first half. Prather jumped nearly from the SEC logo just inside the fe-throw line, no Tennessee player intested in getting in his way.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Tennessee ented the SEC Tournament as the hottest team in the confence outside of Florida. The Volunteers hadn't trailed in mo than 200 minutes, a factoid that was negated when Florida opened the game with a bucket to make it 2-0. Regardless of its cord, Tennessee is playing like a top-20 program right now and deserves a look at the NCAA Tournament even though it couldn't make it to the Georgia Dome final. Needless to say, the Gators had their hands full and we forced to fight through arguably their toughest confence game of the season. Plenty of teams have bowed down to Florida this season. Tennessee never stopped fighting back, a good March experience for a confident team.
UP NEXT: Florida plays the winner of a game between No. 2-seed Kentucky and No. 3-seed Georgia Sunday at 3:15 p.m. ET in the SEC Tournament Championship Game.
Official Basketball Box Sco
Tennessee vs Florida
3/15/14 1:00 pm at SEC Men's Basketball Tourney-Atlanta, GA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Tennessee 21-12, 11-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Stokes, Jarnell..... f 4-9 0-0 5-6 3 4 7 2 13 1 4 1 0 37
34 Maymon, Jeronne..... f 3-5 0-0 4-5 3 6 9 5 10 0 2 0 0 27
01 Richardson, Josh.... g 2-5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 4 1 2 0 2 30
02 Barton, Antonio..... g 1-5 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 3 1 0 2 31
52 McRae, Jordan....... g 7-15 1-5 0-0 0 3 3 2 15 0 4 2 1 35
04 Moo, Armani....... 1-5 0-2 0-0 1 3 4 2 2 0 0 1 1 23
15 Thompson, Darius.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 9
23 Reese, Dek........ 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1 2 1
Totals.............. 19-46 2-13 9-11 8 22 30 18 49 7 16 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-26 53.8% 2nd Half: 5-20 25.0% Game: 41.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 15.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 81.8% 1,1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Florida 31-2, 18-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Yeguete, Will....... f 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 4 2 0 2 0 0 22
24 Prather, Casey...... f 5-7 0-0 2-4 0 1 1 2 12 5 4 0 1 33
04 Young, Patric....... c 6-11 0-0 4-4 1 7 8 2 16 0 0 0 0 31
05 Wilbekin, Scottie... g 5-12 3-7 1-2 0 1 1 2 14 1 3 0 4 37
20 Frazier, Michael.... g 2-6 1-2 2-3 1 3 4 1 7 0 1 0 4 30
00 Hill, Kasey......... 2-4 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 0 5 0 2 0 0 13
10 Finney-Smith, Dorian 0-2 0-2 0-2 0 2 2 5 0 1 1 0 0 22
23 Walker, Chris....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
25 Walker, DeVon....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 21-44 4-11 10-17 4 20 24 16 56 7 13 1 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-22 54.5% 2nd Half: 9-22 40.9% Game: 47.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 9-14 64.3% Game: 58.8% 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Doug Shows, Pat Adams, Joe Lindsay
Technical fouls: Tennessee-Maymon, Jeronne; Moo, Armani. Florida-Prather,
Casey.
Attendance:
Sco by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Tennessee..................... 35 14 - 49
Florida....................... 28 28 - 56
Points in the paint-UT 28,UF 26. Points off turnovers-UT 9,UF 18.
2nd chance points-UT 6,UF 3. Fast bak points-UT 8,UF 9.
Bench points-UT 5,UF 5. Sco tied-6 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-UT 2nd-02:48, UF 2nd-02:24.
Largest lead-UT by 10 1st-02:06, UF by 7 2nd-00:01.