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John Fulkerson hammered home a dunk 16 seconds into the game and the Tennessee Volunteers wouldn't trail the rest of the contest.

For the second time in a week's span, the Volunteers handled the Florida Gators with relative ease, bouncing Florida from the SEC Tournament 78-66.

Tennesee used its length and athleticism, switching off of screens, and pestering Florida down low to build a healthy first-half lead. Yves Pons dominated with 18-points and eight rebounds but the Vols were really paced by freshman guard Keon Johnson, who scored 13 points and pulled down nine boards.

The game was physical and chippy from the onset, but this foul, which was assessed a flagrant 2 on Omar Payne, was the crescendo of the chippiness.

"We lack the emotional maturity that you need day in and day out to be a championship team," Mike White said after the game. "That's why we fell short again here in this tournament. We had another chance. I think that we've got a high level of character off the floor with these guys and we have a really good group of guys to work with but at times when things aren't going well we can make some poor decisions."

Payne's elbow the best shot anybody not named Tre Mann hit all game for the Gators. Mann was held to just two points in the first half but the sophomore guard exploded for 28 second-half points, trying to carry his team to the finish line before the weight became too much.

In two losses to Tennessee this week, the Gators shot just 37.7 percent overall and 34.2 from distance in the two games combined.

Florida finishes the season with a top-35 ranking in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) metrics, a 5-5 record in Quadrant-1 games, and 8-8 in Q-1 and Q-2 combined. UF failed to reach the SEC Tournament semifinals for the fifth time in the last six tries.