Gators turn the tables on Vols

Tuesday night’s matchup between the Gators and No. 6 Tennessee had all the makings of a blowout.

The Gators entered the game having lost three of their last four games and severely short-handed. Guard Scottie Lewis missed his third consecutive game due to health and safety protocols. Center Colin Castleton didn’t play after tweaking his ankle in the final moments of the loss at Mississippi State on Saturday. Of course, forward Keyontae Johnson is likely done for the season following his on-court collapse. Meanwhile, the Volunteers seem primed for a deep run in March and have forged a reputation as one of the most physical teams in the country.

Indeed, it was a beatdown inside Exactech Arena but not in the way that anybody expected. Florida (7-4, 4-3 SEC) upset the Volunteers (10-2, 4-2) 75-49 in what was arguably the most impressive performance of the Mike White era given the roster limitations.

“We’ve got a ways to go, and who saw that coming?” White said. “I didn’t. I’ll be the first one to tell you. Really proud of the effort. The level of confidence is just much higher offensively than it’s been in a while. Defensively, our focus, our fight was just so much at a higher level than it was in Starkville. Credit the Bulldogs, of course, but that’s as well as this group has played.”

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about the win is that they did it by giving Tennessee a taste of its own medicine by playing suffocating defense and dominating the paint. The Volunteers had one lead the entire game – 2-0. UF led by double figures for the final 16 ½ minutes of the night.

Tennessee shot just 29 percent from the field, including just 17 percent from beyond the arc. The Gators forced 18 turnovers and converted them into 27 points. Florida also blocked seven shots.

For one of the few times this season, the pressure defenses that White promised to use more often this season had a consistent impact on their opponent. It seemed like every Tennessee possession ended with either a turnover or a tough shot with a hand in their face.

“I thought our ball-screen defense was pretty good,” White said. “Our blocking out was pretty good. Our press was definitely a factor. To me, that’s the most productive our pressure has been without fouling this year, so we’re growing in that area.”

As for the battle in the frontcourt, the Gators’ minus-21 performance on the boards and minus-22 point differential in the paint against Mississippi State seem like distant memories. Despite being without both frontcourt starters, the Gators outrebounded the Volunteers 44-36 and outscored them in the paint 42-22.

Omar Payne, who started in place of Castleton, paced the group with nine points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Osayi Osifo added career bests of four points and six rebounds. Even Jason Jitoboh, who had only played in three games this season prior to Tuesday, gave them 13 quality minutes, scoring two points, pulling down three rebounds and blocking a shot.

“[Payne] plays within himself offensively,” White said. “With a lot of these guys, it’s ‘Let’s not show what we can’t do. Let’s just play to our strengths,’ and I think Omar’s a pretty good example of that. He’s developing, he’s growing as an offensive player. His left hand, his left hooks have gotten much better, his feel, his passing ability. He’s got elite length, of course. He’s got a nose for the ball on the offensive glass. He’s grown defensively, of course, with the blocked shots, and he changes the game for us a little bit.”

On the other end of the floor, the Gators used terrific ball movement to score the most points against Tennessee this season. They recorded 15 assists on their 31 made field goals. While they did hit a couple of cold spells, it seemed like they got a good look at the basket on nearly every possession. They shot 49 percent from the field.

“We’ve talked about this transition we’re going through [without Johnson],” White said. “I thought our guards were really good playing in space. Our bigs were good with their pick-and-roll dives and really active on the offensive glass. We did a lot of things pretty well.”

Instead of shortening his bench and piling a ton of minutes on the starters as he’s done the past two games with Lewis out, White took the opposite approach against Tennessee. All 12 available players saw action, including the two walk-ons. Only Noah Locke played more than 28 minutes. The strategy worked to perfection.

“It’s next man up,” White said. “It’s a challenge, really. ‘All of you guys want more minutes, well, you’re probably going to get more minutes tonight. What are you going to do with it?’ That’s the challenge, and no one shied away from it. Everybody accepted it.”

Locke led the team with 14 points. Tyree Appleby added 13, Tre Mann contributed 12 and Ques Glover scored 10.

While the Gators are happy to have bludgeoned one of their fiercest rivals, they also understand the reality of the situation. Tennessee played its worst game in quite some time, to put it mildly. Give the Gators credit for doing what they had to do to take advantage, but this game does not mean that they’ve got everything figured out. Not by a long shot.

The Gators have had one or two of these games every season under White. Last year, it was a 22-point win over No. 4 Auburn. The year prior, it was a pair of dramatic victories over SEC regular-season champion LSU. In both instances, they were unable to duplicate that success as the season progressed. They’ve proven that they can beat any team in the country on any given night. Now they need to get to the point where they can beat any team in the country on every night.

“A lot of times, we would be messing up on a lot of little simple things, and it was because of us,” Locke said. “We were losing games because of us, and I felt like guys were focused and doing their job today, and I feel like if we continue to do that, we can beat anyone.”

In the grand scheme of things, this singular game probably won’t have much of an impact on either team’s season. Tennessee could still very well win a national championship while Florida misses the NCAA Tournament.

That’s what made Tuesday night so fun. Now the Gators are the team feeling good about themselves while the Volunteers try to figure out what the heck went wrong.

What a role reversal.

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.