The Gators shook two monkeys off their backs Tuesday night.
Florida snapped its six-game losing streak against Tennessee and notched a much-needed win against a quality Southeastern Conference opponent late in the season, something it hasn’t been able to do in recent years, taking down the No. 19 Volunteers (20-7, 8-5 SEC) 75-62 in the O’Connell Center.
With the victory, the Gators (20-8, 9-4 SEC) increased their odds of making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since winning back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.
“That was a big résumé win for us, and we’re just moving another step closer to where we want to get to,” said sophomore point guard Erving Walker, who tied for a team high with 19 points. “We can’t ask for a bigger win right now.”
The last two seasons, the Gators struggled to beat potential NCAA Tournament teams late in the season, resulting in consecutive late-season meltdowns and NIT appearances.
“It’s a new team,” said junior forward Chandler Parsons, who scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. “It doesn’t really matter what happened the last two years, the last six games. Tonight was the only game that mattered.”
It seemed as if UF’s shooting woes from beyond the arc would continue Tuesday night, as it hit just 1 of 9 before halftime, but Walker and Parsons nailed four huge threes that turned a tight game into a blowout.
Walker hit three shots from beyond the arc in less than two minutes, followed by a three-pointer by Chandler Parsons that pushed the Gators’ lead to 20 to cap off a 23-6 run by UF.
“That’s what he’s done for us all year. He steps up when the game’s on the line,” Parsons said of Walker. “He’s an impact player who really stepped up and made some shots for us today.”
With its outside shot not falling in the first half, UF got into the lane and scored 26 of its 37 points in the paint before intermission, attacking the Vols’ big men and getting Wayne Chism and Brian Williams into foul trouble.
Chism, who dominated the Gators in the teams’ first matchup, only played 15 minutes and fouled out with 4:02 remaining, allowing UF to have its way down low.
“That was huge,” Parsons said. “We definitely wanted to get the ball inside. We felt like we had an advantage in there.”
Coming off a career-high 22 points against Ole Miss on Saturday, junior center Vernon Macklin avoided the letdown UF coach Billy Donovan feared, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Junior power forward Alex Tyus added eight points and eight boards, and the Gators frontcourt redeemed itself for its poor showing against the Volunteers in their 61-60 loss in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 31.
Florida got off to a hot start, jumping out to an 11-4 lead and ending the first half on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 37.
The Gators kept it close despite a huge disparity in the teams’ outside shooting. The Volunteers hit six threes before halftime while UF hit just one of its nine attempts — a bank shot from the top of the key by Kenny Boynton.
“We can win games without even shooting well,” Parsons said. “And you saw tonight, when we put it all together — when we played defense and shoot the ball well — what we can do to teams.”
