by Riley Haltom
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers fell to the No. 4 Florida Gators in the SEC Tournament Championship game, 86-77, in Bridgestone Arena on Selection Sunday. The Vols were playing for a potential bid at a NCAA Tournament top seed.
Here are my takeaways from the tough loss to Florida:
Milicic Foul Problem
Tennessee has a very big Igor Milicic Jr foul problem. Tennessee was forced to dip into their already thin bench early in every game they played in the SEC Tournament because Milicic would pick up fouls early. Cade Phillips and Darlinstone Dubar weren’t playing poorly, but you want to have the scoring that Milicic provides available more consistently, especially on a day when Tennessee was struggling to get any offense.
Rebounding and Interior Presence
To that point, Tennessee’s biggest issue as a team is their reliance on their guards. Felix Okpara is not primarily a scorer, Phillips is undersized, and Dubar isn’t a physical interior forward. Milicic is the only dominant interior presence Tennessee has, but even he is less of a post-up scorer and defender. Teams with bigger, more physical interior players will dominate Tennessee in rebounding and paint scoring, like Florida did, grabbing 14 more rebounds and scoring 12 more paint points than Tennessee. Coach Rick Barnes explained why Florida was able to rebound so well.
“You can’t give up 15 offensive rebounds to Florida, but it’s easy to do. They’re long. They get their hands on it. They’re very good interior passing team with those guys. They pursue the ball. Those 50/50 balls, when they’ve got size on you, are a little bit harder to come up with.”
Zeigler and Gainey’s Impact
Zakai Zeigler made a huge impact, as he always does, but especially so against the Gators. Zeigler felt like the only player on the court for stretches of the game. He finished with 23 points on 5-9 shooting and 9-10 free throw shooting, alongside five rebounds, eight assists, and three steals.
Zeigler’s complement for the final comeback attempt was Jordan Gainey, who notched his season-high in points when the Vols needed him most. Gainey recorded 24 points on 7-15 shooting, 8-9 at the charity stripe, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Barnes expressed how impactful Gainey has been for his team.
“I’m proud of Jordan. What I told the team, if you think about it, a year ago, two years
ago, Jordan was at SC Upstate. He’s come in and he’s just worked so hard. He’s playing with a great deal of confidence.”
Putting Up a Fight
Florida led by as much as 13 with 10:46 left in the game. I genuinely thought it was over at that point, as every time Tennessee would score Florida would match it. Then, Tennessee put together a few nice defensive series, Gainey and Zeigler put together some offense and suddenly it was a five-point game with eight minutes in the game and the crowd all the way pumped up. It was only when Tennessee was forced to sit Chaz Lanier and Jahmai Mashack due to foul trouble that Florida pulled back away and closed the game out. Mashack feels like the experience is making the team better.
“I think that through this game we’ve experienced a lot of different situations. Through this whole regular season, we’ve experienced a lot of different situations. That’s getting us ready for March. We don’t know who we’re going to play, the play style, how their team is constructed.”
What’s Next?
The Selection Sunday show is tonight, and the Vols will likely be slotted as a two-seed. They will await what 15-seed they will be matched up against, as well as which teams will be slotted in the same region as them down the line.