Ad Disclosure
Florida defeated Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon in Nashville.
The Vols hung around for a long time, but the Gators were able to pull away in the final minutes to secure 86-77 victory.
Here are 3 takeaways from Florida’s big win:
Florida dominated the offensive glass
Florida crushed Tennessee in a key area on Sunday: offensive rebounding. The Gators finished with a whopping 15 offensive rebounds, which they converted into 12 second-chance points. Tennessee, on the other hand, had just 5 O-boards on the afternoon.
It’s difficult to beat Florida under normal circumstances — but this was one of UF’s best offensive rebounding games of the season. All of those extra opportunities resulted in Florida attempting 12 more shots than the Vols, which was enough to make the difference.
Alex Condon led the Gators in rebounding with 9. Florida out-rebounded Tennessee 39-25 overall on the day.
Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard stepped up
As a team, Florida shot just 9-of-27 from beyond the arc in this game. But Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard provided 7 of those makes by themselves on just 17 attempts.
Clayton, in-particular, made a couple of huge 3-pointers midway through the 2nd half to keep Tennessee at arm’s length. He finished the game with 22 points on 18 shots.
Richard also poured in 17 points on just 7 field goal attempts. He got to the foul line 8 times and made each of those tries. Richard and Clayton also combined for 5 assists versus just 3 turnovers on the day.
Florida locks up a No. 1 seed?
With this win over Tennessee, Florida likely has locked up a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. If the Gators do ultimately earn a No. 1 seed, it will be their first time on the top line since 2014 — which was also Florida’s most-recent SEC Tournament title.
Florida is now 30-4 this season and crucially picked up wins over 2 competitors for a No. 1 seed — Alabama and Tennessee — during this SEC Tournament run. Auburn, Duke and Houston are also expected to receive consideration to be a No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament.
The bracket reveal will begin at 6 p.m. ET.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
