Live Blog: No. 5 Florida beats No. 7 Alabama 99-94

With a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament potentially on the line Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the No. 5 Florida Gators came up with a massive 99-94 win over No. 7 Alabama.

Florida, which improved to 26-4 overall, 13-4 in the SEC, has won eight of its last nine games. The Gators are No. 4 in the NCAA NET Rankings, a metric with which the NCAA Tourney selection committee is said to heavily utilize. Alabama, now 23-7 and 12-5, is No. 6 in the NET.

Winning in Tuscaloosa, Ala., never has been easy for Florida. The Gators were 24-50 all-time there entering this game.

But Wednesday, the Gators got a monster game from post player Alex Condon, who finished with a team-high 27 points and 10 rebounds. Guard Walter Clayton added 22 points. Florida dominated inside and finished with a 50-35 rebounding edge.

You can join the discussion with other Florida fans on Swamp Talk.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 91, Alabama 82 (01:14)

The Tide cut it to five, but Florida has responded with some big foul shots.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 85, Alabama 73 (03:42)

The red-hot Gators now have made five 3-pointers this half. Meanwhile, post player Alex Condon is having a monster game. He has 25 points and 10 boards to lead Florida. Guard Walter Clayton has added 21 points for UF. Florida is making 50 percent of its field goals.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 75, Alabama 63 (07:41)

Florida didn’t shoot great in the first half, but with a strong second half the Gators now are making 50 percent of their field-goal attempts for the game. Post player Alex Condon leads Florida with 20 points and has seven boards. Meanwhile, center-forward Rueben Chinyelu has nine points and 10 boards as the Gators are chewing up Alabama inside. Right now, the Gators hold a 43-27 rebounding edge.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 62, Alabama 57 (11:36)

Florida guard Walter Clayton already has nine points in the half, giving him 19 in the game. This continues to be a back-and-forth contest. The Tide doesn’t have a field goal in the last 3:38 of game action.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 52, Alabama 55 (14:47)

There has been a frenetic pace to begin the second half. Alabama fell behind by three but got hot and went up by five — its biggest leads in this game. After Florida tied it again, Tide forward Aiden Sherrell knocked down a 3-pointer. He has 10 points. The Gators only made three 3-pointers in the first half, but now already have two this half. Guard Walter Clayton leads UF with 16 points.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 41, Alabama 40 (HALF)

The Gators closed the half with a 5-0 run to take the lead into the break. Florida center Alex Condon has a team-high 12 points to go along with five boards. The Gators are only 3 of 14 from 3-point range in the half — and Condon has two of the makes. Florida guard Walter Clayton added 10 points. Mark Sears, the Alabama guard, leads the Tide with 16 points. The Gators have a 24-18 rebounding edge.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 31, Alabama 31 (4:23)

In a back-and-forth half, Alabama just had an 8-0 run, before Florida stopped that by scoring four straight. Florida center Alex Condon, who leads UF with nine points, had a nice block of a dunk attempt by Grant Nelson. Meanwhile, post player Rueben Chinyelu is having a strong game for the Gators. He has eight points and five boards.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 27, Alabama 23 (11:53)

The Gators have responded with a 12-6 run. Florida center Alex Condon has the Gators’ only two made 3-pointers — along with a team-high 9 points. Gators guard Walter Clayton has eight points. Florida has made its last three shots and now is 11 of 23 from the field.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 15, Alabama 17 (11:53)

The Tide has gotten hot from 3-point range and is on a 9-0 run. Guard Mark Sears leads Alabama with six points. The Tide has made two straight 3-pointers to build its largest lead thus far.

SCORE UPDATE: Florida 9, Alabama 6 (15:58)

Florida center Alex Condon has five early points and already made a 3-pointer to help the Gators gain the lead. Gators guard Walter Clayton has four points. Florida is 4 of 8 from the field and already has forced two turnovers.

Florida Gators projected starters

No.	Player	Position	Height/Weight	Class	Min.	Pts.	Rebs.	Misc.
1	Walter Clayton Jr.	Guard	6-2, 195 pounds	Sr.	32.2	16.9	3.7	4.0 ast
15	Alijah Martin	Guard	6-2, 210 pounds	Gr.	30.1	14.7	4.7	2.4 ast
5	Will Richard	Guard	6-4, 206 pounds	Sr.	31.7	13.6	4.8	1.8 stl
10	Thomas Haugh	Forward	6-9, 215 pounds	So.	24.2	9.1	6.1	1.9 ast
9	Rueben Chinyelu	Center	6-10, 260 pounds	So.	19.4	5.9	6.3	1.0 blk

Alabama Crimson Tide projected starters

No.	Player	Position	Height/Weight	Class	Min.	Pts.	Rebs.	Misc.
1	Mark Sears	Guard	6-1, 190 pounds	Gr.	32.4	19.1	3.0	5.0 ast
0	Labaron Philon	Guard	6-4, 177 pounds	Fr.	23.8	10.4	3.2	3.5 ast
8	Chris Youngblood	Guard	6-4, 223 pounds	Gr.	24.8	10.2	2.6	2.1 3fg
4	Grant Nelson	Forward	6-11, 230 pounds	Gr.	26.2	11.8	8.0	1.3 blk
11	Clifford Omoruyi	Center	6-11, 250 pounds	Gr.	19.1	7.1	6.8	1.1 blk