Tennessee basketball (8-6) received its first SEC win of the year as the Volunteers shocked the Florida Gators (9-5) 83-69 to move to 1-1 in the conference.
The Gators came in to Thompson-Boling Arena as a four-point favorite, and on a four-game winning streak against the Volunteers. The Vols snapped that streak by dominating for almost the whole game.
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Early on in the game, senior guard Kevin Punter Jr. and freshman forward Admiral Schofield picked up where they left off in the last contest against Auburn. After combining for 53 points against the Tigers, the duo started the night off against the Gators by scoring the Volunteers’ first 13 points (Punter – 7, Schofield – 6).
After the first media timeout, Vol sophomore Detrick Mostella hit a three-point shot to put the Vols up 16-11. The Gators then went on a six-to-zero run to put Florida up 17-16 for their second, and last lead of the game.
From that point on, the Vols outscored the Gators 37 to 14 in the first half. The Vols went into the break with a 53-31 lead behind a combined 35 points from Punter Jr. and Schofield (Punter 18, Schofield 15).
Coach Rick Barnes called it the “best twenty minutes” they have played this season.
Everything seemed to be clicking for the Volunteers in the first half rebounding from a historically bad shooting game against Auburn. The Vols shot 51.3 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the arc.
The second half did not see the same success of the first, but with the 22-point lead going in, the hole was too large for the Gators to dig out of. Florida outscored Tennessee 38 to 30 in the half and eventually cut the lead down to 14. However, that was with barely over two minutes left in the game.
With another strong half from Punter Jr. and junior guard Robert Hubbs III getting in on the scoring, the two tallied eight points a piece. Schofield only scored two in the half, but grabbed six rebounds.
In the end, the Vols were too much for Florida, and improve to 1-1 in SEC play. The story line was once again about Kevin Punter Jr. and Admiral Schofield. Punter finished the night with 26 points and eight rebounds. Schofield had another strong performance with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
Coach Barnes believes it was clearly the best game of the season for Tennessee as a whole, but acknowledged that this team can still improve.
“We still know we got a long way to go,” said Barnes, “But tonight was a good night for us.”
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The Vols will next face the Texas A&M Aggies, who are currently ranked 21st in the AP, this Saturday on the SEC Network.