Florida tops Tennessee for SEC tournament title
Mar 16, 2025, 04:08 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn.– Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points and the fourth-ranked Florida guys’s basketball group won its 5th Southeastern Conference competition title and initially because 2014, beating the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers 86-77 on Sunday.The Gators(
30-4) lost in this game a year ago. This time, they made sure to finish their 12th appearance in the national championship, including another title to the list that started with three directly from 2005-07.
Will Richard added 17 points for Florida, while Alex Condon had 13, Thomas Haugh had 11 and Alijah Martin had 10.
“I came here due to the fact that I believed in that vision,” Clayton stated of winning titles at Florida. “See it concern fruition, it really happening, is terrific.”
Fourth-seeded Tennessee (27-7) goes home still searching for its first title in this occasion considering that 2022. The Vols have 5 SEC champions, however dropped to 1-3 under coach Rick Barnes in the Vols’ fourth last in the previous seven tournaments.The 86 points enabled by the Vols marks one of the most they’ve given up in a game this season. And it’s just the 2nd time all season they allowed a team to leading 80 (the other was an 85-82 win over Missouri in the routine season).
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“When we are playing like this,” Golden stated, “I believe we are the best group in America.”
Jordan Gainey led the Vols with a career-high 24 points. Zakai Zeigler had 23 and Chaz Lanier included 11 before fouling out.These groups split throughout the season with each winning in routs defending their home courts. The Vols had adequate fans that this felt like a home court. Yet they led just briefly; their last lead came less than 2 minutes in at 6-5. Florida took over from there. The Gators jumped out to a 34-22 lead and took a 39-30 edge into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating deep 3 from Denzel Aberdeen. Tennessee never got closer than 5 in the 2nd half.The Gators have played a program-record seven games this season with both teams ranked in the top 10. They now are 5-2 in those games after going 6-16 entering this season. “Cutting down the webs is a great sensation,”Richard stated.”But we want to have the ability to
do that in the NCAA competition too. “The Associated Press contributed to this report.