Florida’s legitimacy, in an arduous SEC race and nationally, is crystal clear after the Gators’ first week of conference play — capped by Tuesday’s 73-43 rout of No. 1 and previously unbeaten Tennessee.
That’s the first time the No. 1 team has lost by 30 or more since UCLA crushed Houston 101-69 in 1968.
The Vols (14-1, 1-1 SEC) were the last perfect team in men’s college basketball, and they got multiple games’ worth of bad basketball into their first defeat. Rick Barnes’ team had a rotten night at Florida’s O’Connell Center. They missed 25 of 29 attempts from 3-point range, for example, and their four first-half field goals were the program’s lowest in a half since 2015.
This was more about No. 8 Florida (14-1, 1-1), three days after the Gators hung around impressively in a 106-100 loss at Kentucky. The Gators were quicker, smarter, stronger and more aggressive, dominating the glass as they’ve done often this season and stifling a Tennessee offense that came in averaging 79.8 points per game.
The key there was the offseason addition for the Gators, Florida Atlantic transfer guard Alijah Martin, who hounded Tennessee star Zakai Zeigler and gives the Gators something similar to what Zeigler has given the Vols for four seasons — relentless ferocity. He led the way in a defensive effort that limited Zeigler to a single assist — seven below his average — and leading scorer Chaz Lanier to 10 points, 10.3 below his average.
Martin scored, too, and had a game-high 18 points to go with 16 from reserve guard Denzel Aberdeen and 12 from big man Alex Condon.
The Gators got just 14 combined points from high-scoring guards Walter Clayton Jr., and Will Richard, 18 below their combined average. The Gators didn’t shoot well from outside but dominated paint points (40-12) and fast-break points (22-3).
This was Florida’s largest margin of victory in the series since a 95-57 blowout in 2004. It continued early success for SEC teams at home, with Kentucky losing Tuesday at Georgia.
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(Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
