No. 1 Tennessee's undefeated start goes ice cold in loss at No. 8 Florida, 73-43
No. 1 Tennessee went to Gainesville Tuesday night as the only undefeated team left in college basketball. Then, for 40 minutes at Exactech Arena, the rims nearly went undefeated against the Vols.
Tennessee missed 24 of 29 shots in the first half, went an unthinkable 0-for-14 from the 3-point line and No. 8 Florida raced out to a 19-point lead before halftime. Somehow, it only got worse in the second half as the Gators dismantled the Vols, 73-43.
Chaz Lanier scored 10 points while going 3-for-16 from the field for Tennessee (14-1, 1-1 SEC), Zakai Zeigler had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting and Felix Okpara had eight points on 2-for-3 shooting.
Tennessee’s other six players combined to shoot 3-for-25 as the Vols finished with the fewest points scored in a game in the Rick Barnes era. The previous low was 46 points in a 46-43 win over Auburn in 2023.
Jordan Gainey went 1-for-11 while scoring seven points and Igor Milicic went 2-for-7 with eight points.
Florida (14-1, 1-1), beating a No. 1-ranked team for just a third time in 20 tries and for the first time at home, got 16 from Denzel Aberdeen and 12 points and 11 rebounds from Alex Condon. Walter Clayton Jr. had five points, five assists and four rebounds after picking up two early fouls and Alijah Martin scored 18.
After leading 34-15 at halftime, Florida extended the lead to 25 points before the first media timeout in the second half, scoring nine of the first 12 points after the break.
Meanwhile, Tennessee went 1-for-7 from the 3-point line in the first 3:37 of the second half. Lanier made a three with 19:10 left in the second half, but nothing changed. He missed a deep attempt in transition on the next possession, then the Gators answered with a three of their own.
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Tennessee in the first half: 4-29 FG, 0-14 3FG
Pick a stat and Tennessee lost it in the first half.
The 4-for-29 shooting, just 13.8%, was the fewest made shots in a half for Tennessee since 2015. Not only did the Vols miss all 14 of their 3-point attempts before halftime, but they also got out-rebounded 30-19, including 11-6 on the offensive glass, and committed seven turnovers leading to six Gator points.
Lanier was 1-for-9 from the field and 0-for-5 from three. Zeigler went 2-for-5 and 0-for-3. Milicic went 0-for-3 and 0-for-2.
At one point the Vols went on a 6-0 run over a stretch of 2:39, despite being 1-for-15 from the floor at the time, only for Florida to answer with back-to-back threes, scoring six points in 34 seconds while Tennessee had scored just six points in the first 10:09.
Up Next: No. 1 Tennessee at Texas
The comforts of home aren’t waiting on the Vols after the trip to Florida. Instead, Tennessee goes to Texas on Saturday for a 6 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: ESPN) at the Moody Center in Austin.
The Vols beat Texas 62-58 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March, before the Longhorns officially joined the SEC.
Tennessee also hosted Texas in back-to-back seasons in the old Big 12-SEC Challenge, beating the Longhorns 82-71 in Knoxville in January 2023 and losing 52-51 in January 2022, when Rick Barnes returned to the Erwin Center for the first time since parting ways with Texas in 2015.
