Florida cracked triple digits in a win over Alabama for the second time this season to advance in the SEC Tournament. No. 6-seed UF is moving on to Saturday’s semifinals following a 102-88 win over the No. 3-seed Crimson Tide.

Friday was the third meeting of 2023-24 between Florida and Alabama. The first round went to the Tide in a 98-93 overtime thriller in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 21. The second game went to the Gators, a 105-87 blowout in Gainesville on March 5. Round 3 turned out to be more like the second meeting, though it didn’t look the way at the start.

Alabama jumped out to an 8-0 lead on Friday. Once Florida started scoring, it never stopped.

With 5:40 to go in the 1st half, a Mark Sears layup extended Alabama’s lead to 31-27. UA led for 14:29 of the first half before the Gators turned the tide, going on a 21-2 run to close out the half and take a 48-33 lead to the locker room at the break.

The scoring continued in the 2nd half, as defense took a backseat. Alabama got its offense going with a 55-point second half, but the Crimson Tide could not slow down Florida. The Gators added 54 points to their total, finishing with 102 points to win by 14.

It takes a lot of scorers to crack triple digits. Todd Golden’s group had 5 players in double figures.

Walter Clayton Jr. was the game’s high scorer with 23 points for the Gators. He shot 5-of-13 from the field with 2 triples while going 11-of-11 at the free-throw line. Zyon Pullin (19 points), Tyrese Samuel (18 points), Will Richard (10 points and Alex Condon (12 points) were also in double figures.

Golden got to give his players a bit more rest than expected. Clayton and Richard logged the most minutes with 31 each. Pullin also played 30 minutes in the game. Off the bench, Denzel Aberdeen played 12 minutes, his most since Feb. 24 against Vanderbilt (14 minutes).

Points in the paint (52-48 Bama) and 3-pointers (7-of-20 UF, 6-of-25 UA) were mostly equal. The Gators got to the free-throw line more, and took advantage. Florida was 31-of-36 on free throws, while the Tide made 16-of-23.

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Florida moves on to semifinals for rematch with Texas A&M

The Gators are playing their first SEC Tournament semifinal game since 2019. They’ll be out for revenge against No. 7-seed Texas A&M.

The Aggies advanced by shocking No. 2-seed Kentucky 97-87 earlier Friday. Buzz Williams’ team took care of business against Ole Miss, 80-71 on Thursday.

Florida and Texas A&M have played close in their last 5 meetings, with all of them going to the Aggies. As UF in-house writer Chris Harry noted, Florida has dropped 5 in a row to A&M by a combined 10 points.

The teams met once in the regular season. The Aggies won 67-66 in College Station on Feb. 3.

Saturday’s showdown for a spot in the tournament championship game is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, following the Auburn-Mississippi State game.