ATLANTA — With the first half in the books and Florida trailing 35-28 against Tennessee, coach Billy Donovan harped on one message during his halftime speech.
“Do we really want it?” Dorian Finney-Smith said Donovan told the players during the break.
“Basically, that’s all he said.”
It resonated with the No. 1 seed Gators, who survived a scare Saturday afternoon and beat the fourth-seeded Volunteers 56-49 in the Georgia Dome to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament final.
In the second half, UF (31-2, 18-0 SEC) tightened up defensively to hold UT to only 14 points on 5-of-20 shooting — the fewest points Florida has allowed an opponent to score in the last 20 minutes of a contest this season. The Volunteers (21-12, 11-7 SEC) scored only one field goal in the final 12:16 of play.
“As a team, we just all started connecting finally, getting to where we feel as though we need to be for a whole 40 minutes,” Patric Young said. “We were really locked in on the defensive side. I could just feel like an inner sense that they were going to have a difficult time scoring.”
Breaking out of slow starts in the second half has been a trend for the Gators in SEC Tournament play and a good portion of their SEC regular-season contests, and it was the same story Saturday.
Florida did not have an early answer for Tennessee forwards Jarnell Stokes and Jeronne Maymon, who combined for 16 points and eight boards in the first half to help the Vols outscore the Gators in the paint 20-12.
At one point, Florida trailed by as many as 10 points — its largest deficit in a game since November against Wisconsin.
“It was a battle,” Young said. “They have the best … offensive rebounding frontcourt in our league, possible in the country. We just had to go in there and be fearless.”
But coming out of the half, Florida rode its seniors and climbed back. A 10-2 run had the Gators leading 38-37 with 14:49 left.
As both teams stood tied at 49 with 2:48 left to play after a Jordan McRae three from the left wing, the contest became scrappy.
Tennessee guard Antonio Barton was issued a flagrant foul after grabbing Casey Prather by the waist on a fastbreak layup attempt.
A play after Florida’s senior forward made his two free throws to lift his team to a four-point advantage, Barton drew an offensive foul on Scottie Wilbekin with 1:20 left. Trying to use a screen, Wilbekin’s elbow swiped close to the face of Barton, who fell to the ground and got the call. But instant replay showed the point guard’s elbow did not make as much contact to Barton’s face as previously thought.
“My elbow nicked his chin a little bit,” Wilbekin said. “But he did a good job of selling it.”
Ultimately, it did not matter, as UF held UT scoreless in the final minute of action and made 3 of its final 4 free throws to grind out the win.
Young scored a game-high 16 points, with 12 coming in the second half, while Wilbekin added 14.
No. 1 seed Florida, now with its 25th straight victory in the bag, will face No. 2 seed Kentucky, which defeated No. 3 seed Georgia 70-58 Saturday, in the tournament final on Sunday at 3:15 p.m.
With a big game approaching against the Wildcats, Donovan wants his team to play at its peak level of intensity for the full 40 minutes — not just the final 20 like it did Saturday.
“We haven't done that here,” he said. “We need to do a better job of that. And hopefully through those experiences, we can learn and get better from it.”
Follow Landon Watnick on Twitter @LandonWatnick.
Patric Young (right) boxes out Tennessee's Jarnell Stokes during the Gators' 56-49 win against the Volunteers in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
