Boogie Fland leads Florida basketball to blowout win over Tennessee
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Boogie Fland led the way for Florida with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor as the Gators breezed past No. 21 Tennessee 91-67 in Gainesville on Saturday.
Rueben Chinyelu added 17 points and 16 rebounds, while Thomas Haugh scored 13 points, as the Gators won their sixth game in seven tries to improve to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in the SEC. It was also the Gators’ sixth straight win against a ranked opponent at the O’Connell Center.
This was a back-and-forth affair for much of the first half, with the score 26-26 with less than four minutes left to go in the frame. But the Gators went into the locker room on a blistering 15-2 run to open up a 41-28 lead at the break. The Volunteers, who have lost for the second time in three games, made just four field goals in the final 7:58 minutes of the half.
The Gators didn’t let the Vols closer than 11 points the rest of the way, going up by as much as 25 with just over 10 minutes to go. They forced the Vols into 18 rebounds and held a 41-30 edge on the class. That was despite shooting 9-of-30 from behind the arc.
Nate Ament led Tennessee in scoring with 17 points while Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 12 while going 3-of-12 from the floor.
Florida’s next game is Tuesday as it travels to Oklahoma for a 9 p.m. ET tip on ESPN2. Tennessee next takes the court on Tuesday as well, a 7 p.m. tipoff against Texas A&M on the SEC Network.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
