Staying in the hunt for the top of the SEC the Florida Gators (18-2, 5-2 SEC) will take on the Tennessee Volunteers (17-3, 4-3 SEC at the time of publishing) for the second time this season on February 1st.
Currently the Gators are third in the SEC and are behind Auburn by 1.5 games (Auburn is sitting at 6-0 and have played one less game from the Gators) so they are still very much in the mix for a league title through the first third of conference play. Of course, one of the reasons why is that one of the league favorites was Tennessee and the Volunteers have unexpectedly dropped a number of games after going through conference play undefeated and in discussions for the top team in the country.
When Florida first saw Tennessee on January 7th the Volunteers were riding high, undefeated on the season with wins over Illinois, Baylor, and Louisville. After the Gators handed them their first loss the struggles continued with them also dropping games to Vanderbilt and Auburn, with the Vanderbilt loss certainly being one they would like to have back. This means that Tennessee has lost 3 of their last 6 and are looking far from the machine they presented as for the first two months of the season, and the Gators will be going into this game with a ton of confidence given how the season’s first meeting went.
Florida is also going to have a rest advantage in this meeting with a “bye week” that sees them go from Saturday, January 25th to this game on Saturday, February 1st without any action, while Tennessee has to take on Kentucky on January 28th. While Kentucky is also having their issues recently this will still be a very challenging game for Tennessee and it’s entirely possible they could go into the game with Florida 4-4 in SEC play which would have been unthinkable given how Tennessee’s non-conference season went.
With the expanded league there are fewer opportunities than ever for teams to meet for a second time in the same season and this will be Florida’s first time seeing a team for a return meeting. When it was announced the Gators would play the Volunteers twice that was thought to be one of the major challenges of their season–but you wouldn’t have known that with how the first meeting went. Florida came out of the gates firing and completely dominated the matchup winning 73-43, handing Tennessee the kind of violent loss that looks like it may have had downstream repercussions with the team struggling in games immediately following including the loss to in-state rival Vanderbilt. Tennessee’s complete inability to create offense was the story in this game, and you don’t need many stats to support this other than the fact they posted just 43 points in an SEC basketball game. Florida held the Volunteers to 12-56 shooting from the field with 12 turnovers–meaning it was just as likely for them to throw the ball to a Gator as it was for them to put the ball through the hoop.
Tennessee’s offensive problems have hurt them since the Florida game and they’ve struggled to create any kind of rhythm on that side of the floor. While their stellar defense was enough to hold on to wins against Texas, Georgia, and Mississippi State, their ability to score didn’t aspire confidence in these games and their offensive issues, particularly late in games, was a big reason why they fell to Vanderbilt and Auburn.
Florida’s defensive success was all about their work away from the ball making sure that Tennessee couldn’t create anything from the pindowns they were constantly setting for Chaz Lanier. He struggled to get any open looks and when he ultimately did he was so out of rhythm he couldn’t make them, and with their offensive engine taken out of the game the Volunteers didn’t have a second option. Florida also did well to not overreact to the drives of Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack who were looking to pass more than finish when getting downhill and those players ended up getting stuck without any dump off options resulting in stale offensive possessions.
While Tennessee’s inability to score and Florida’s defense clamping down was the major story in this game it’s also worth noting that the Gators had one of their better offensive performances of the season against what is a very stout Volunteers “D.” Alijah Martin was particularly impressive with 18 points as he stepped up to the physical challenge of going against a muscular Tennessee wing group, but as we’ve since learned–Martin is best in these types of matchups.
Oftentimes when two teams meet for the second time in the same season the team that’s able to make adjustments and play a different style have the biggest advantage. One of the big differences the Gators have utilized recently is a full court press, something that looked solid when deployed against Missouri before it went to another level and looked incredible against South Carolina and was a massive reason why they were able to make a comeback and ultimately win the game. Tennessee is a team that doesn’t have many ball handlers and point guard Zakai Zeigler is someone who is very shifty but is short at 5’9” and could be bothered by the length at the top of the press. Look for this to be something the Gators mix in at some point, likely in the middle of the game, to try and change the tempo and force some turnovers.
Tennessee is going to come into this game as the more desperate team given that they already have three SEC losses (and this is going into their game with Kentucky) and given the fact that the Volunteers were embarrassed in their first meeting with the Gators. Florida knows not to take any opponent lightly but they’ll have all kinds of confidence given how the season’s first meeting went and that will be something they’ll look to feed off of Saturday.
Florida and Tennessee will tip off February 1st at 12 PM ET and it will be televised on ESPN.