Florida defeats Tennessee in SEC tournament championship, stays in mix for No. 1 seed in March Madness

Entering Sunday’s SEC tournament championship, Florida had an opportunity to continue its strong argument for a No. 1 seed in March Madness. With the victory over Tennessee, the Gators did just that.

UF led 39-30 at halftime of Sunday’s game and didn’t look back in the second half, eventually sealing the 86-77 win over Tennessee. The Gators got strong performances out of Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard to fuel the effort and respond to punches the Volunteers threw down the stretch.

In the process, Florida helped make its case to be on the 1-seed line in the NCAA tournament. The game finished just hours before the Selection Show, and the No. 4 overall seed was very much in play.

Auburn, Duke and Houston are the consensus top three seeds and, therefore, will all be No. 1 seeds in the bracket. The fourth spot was up for debate, though, and Florida came in as that final team in On3’s James Fletcher III’s updated Bracketology ahead of tip-off.

Following the win, the Gators appear poised to stay ahead of Tennessee for the final 1-seed. The Volunteers held steady as the No. 5 overall seed in On3’s Bracketology, and will likely stay there even despite the loss to Florida on Sunday. That means the Vols would be the top 2-seed in the field.

How it happened: Florida holds off Tennessee

Tennessee took an early lead in the first half of Sunday’s SEC tournament championship, but it was all Florida from there. The Gators went into halftime ahead 39-30, and saw their advantage grow to 60-47 at one point in the second half.

The Volunteers made things interesting, though. They went on an 10-2 run from there to get back within single digits and keep the game from getting out of hand. Walter Clayton Jr. then got a huge three to fall to stop the run and put Florida back up by eight points.

The two teams continued to go back-and-forth, and Tennessee suffered a big-time blow. Leading scorer Chaz Lanier fouled out with just over five minutes remaining in the game as the Volunteers trailed 71-64. After two free throws, they found themselves once again trailing by nine points. About a minute later, Jamai Mashack also fouled out, and Florida’s lead grew to 16 – its largest of the game.

From there, the Gators were able to cruise to the finish line bring home its first SEC tournament title since 2014. Clayton led the way with 22 points while Will Richard added 17. Alex Condon had 13 and Thomas Haugh had 11, as well.