Gators trying to win program's first SEC Tournament title since 2014

After ending the regular season with a disappointing loss at Vanderbilt last Saturday, Florida is back in Nashville this week for the SEC Tournament. This time, the Gators are looking to bring some hardware back home.

Second-year coach Todd Golden and his squad, led by the All-SEC trio of Zyon Pullin, Walter Clayton Jr. and Tyrese Samuel, are looking to win UF’s first conference tournament title since 2014. That team made it to the Final Four.

This year’s group has helped lead Florida to a 21-10 regular season record, the team’s most wins heading into the postseason since 2016-17. After a first-round bye, the Gators open SEC tourney play tonight at 9:30 vs. Georgia.

“I think there’s a clear understanding of what we’re playing for. We’re trying to win a championship and it will take four really good days to do that, and obviously we have to start with a really good game on Thursday against Georgia,” Golden said.

“We beat three out of the four teams that finished above us in the NET in conference play and only played Tennessee on their floor. We feel like when we’re playing our best we can compete and beat anybody. So that’s the goal.”

If Florida can beat the Bulldogs, it will face No. 3 seed Alabama in the quarterfinals on Friday and another win would likely lead to a matchup against No. 2 seed Kentucky in the semifinals Saturday. The teams UF could see in the championship game are top-seeded Tennessee or No. 4 seed Auburn.

As Golden mentioned, the Gators have victories over three of the top four seeds and wouldn’t get a potential neutral-site rematch with Tennessee until Sunday. While they have aspirations to make it that far in Nashville, Golden and the players recognize they have to take it one game at a time.

Pullin said he and his teammates were “sick” on the flight back from and said that loss brought them back to reality.

“This SEC season has shown us what we can do. It’s also shown that the games we don’t show up what can happen,” Pullin said. “It shows you that you could beat Alabama, one of the top teams, and then you can lose to one of the bottom teams. I think that we’ve really gotta lock in and understand that we’ve gotta show up every single game and do the little things. The little things matter.

“I think we’re super confident. We know what this team can do. We’ve shown it. So, there’s no doubt in our minds what we can do. … The goal is to win at all. I think we’ve just got to keep taking it game by game, not look down the road to Tennessee, Kentucky, stuff like that. Just take one game at a time. And I think the rest will take care of itself.”

Mike White on the Gators

Florida has won 10 straight against Georgia, including a 4-0 mark by Golden against former UF coach Mike White. This season the Gators had a 102-98 overtime victory over UGA at home and an 88-82 win in Athens.

Despite Georgia being UF’s most common opponent in program history, the teams have only squared off in the SEC Tournament three times. Thursday will be their first meeting in the conference tourney since 2007.

The Bulldogs (17-15, 6-12 SEC) defeated Missouri 64-59 on Wednesday night to advance to the second round.

“They’re really good,” White said of the Gators after beating Mizzou. “I mean, they’ve got a chance to make a run in the tournament, in my opinion. They’ve got great guard play, really good depth, especially the front-court depth that they’ve got with skill level. The willingness to pass to one another. The interior passing of all four of their bigs. Their ability to dominate the offensive glass at times. That’s kind of where it starts.

“Pullin has had an amazing year. Their other guards are really good, too. Clayton has had a big-time year, as well. They’ve got really good balance and depth. Their first shot offense is really good. They’re as good as anybody in the country in terms of getting extra shots. We’ve absolutely got our hands full. That’s just the defensive end.”