The Official #19 Tennessee vs. Florida Game Thread, 9:00 PM ET, ESPN2

#19 Tennessee Volunteers: 19-7 (9-5 SEC)




vs.


Florida Gators: 17-10 (8-6 SEC)




FEB. 21 » THOMPSON-BOLING ARENA » KNOXVILLE, TENN. » 9:05 PM ET


Line: UT -4
O/U: 136.5


TV: ESPN2
Radio: Vol Network
Satellite Radio: Sirius: 138, XM: 202
Online: WatchESPN.com

Overall: UT leads, 73-57

In Knoxville: UT leads, 45-18

In Gainesville: UF leads, 35-25

Neutral Sites: UF leads, 4-3

Current Streak: UF has won one

Last Meeting: Florida won, 83- 70, in Gainesville, 1/7/2017

Rick Barnes vs. Florida: 1-1

Rick Barnes vs. Mike White: Tied, 1-1

The Vols are rated No. 15 in the NCAA RPI. Florida is No. 63.

Jordan Bone has 31 assists against only three turnovers over UT’s last six games. His 2.94 assist/turnover ratio on the year ranks 17th in Division I.

Per KenPom, Tennessee rates ninth nationally in defensive e ciency.

Tennessee ranks 31st nationally with 4.8 blocked shots per game.

Enable Tennessee to avoid its first losing streak since the first two games of SEC play (Jan. 2-6).

Give Tennessee its 25th 20-win season and its first since 2013- 14, when the Vols finished with 24 victories and advanced to their seventh Sweet Sixteen.

Give Tennessee 20 regular- season victories for the first time since 2013-14 (20).

• In his third season at the helm, Mike White continues to keep Florida (17-10, 8-6 SEC) at a strong level on the court, as the Gators are tied for third in the SEC and sit at No. 63 in the latest RPI rankings.

• In its non-conference slate, Florida boasts wins over Stanford and Gonzaga during the Phil Knight Invitational and a huge 66-60 win over Cincinnati, who is currently 11th in the RPI. UF opened league play by winning six of its first seven games, including road wins at Kentucky, Missouri and Texas A&M.

• Junior guard Jalen Hudson is the Gators' top scorer, averaging 14.9 ppg on 45 percent shooting to go along with 4.1 rpg. Florida picked up a huge addition in the offseason with graduate transfer Egor Koulechov from Rice. He's the only player to start all 27 games for UF this season and is posting 14.2 ppg and a team-leading 6.9 rpg.

• Florida's emotional leader and do-it-all guy is senior guard Chris Chiozza. The Memphis native averages 11.4 ppg, an SEC-leading 5.9 apg, 4.3 rpg and 1.9 spg, which ranks second in the SEC. His assist/turnover ratio (3.4) is the best in the league and ranks just ahead of UT's Jordan Bone.

• Junior guard KeVaughn Allen (11.1 ppg) rounds out the double-digit scorers for UF and is one of the team's top 3-point shooters. Florida, which thrives off its 3-point shooting, is similar to Tennessee's team this year, as multiple players have the capability to go off on any given night.

• The Gators enter Wednesday's contest on a two-game skid, most recently falling at Vanderbilt, 71-68, on Saturday. Despite a 20-point performance from forward Keith Stone, UF couldn't keep up with Vandy's 22-of-24 shooting from the charity stripe.

UT gets back on track with a win. Gonna say UT runs away in the 2nd and wins by 17.

LittleCat said:

UT gets back on track with a win. Gonna say UT runs away in the 2nd and wins by 17.

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Like given and well deserved.

C’mon Vols, let’s get back on track and finish this season strong.

I think it's close early but Vols pull away in 2nd half for a 15 point win.

Need a big W today. Go Vols!

Vols - 72
UF - 69

If we get an open 3, shoot it. And most importantly, follow up all misses. Need to crash the offensive glass. I'd like to see the offense not run through Grant tonight. Prefer to see him focus on rebounding.

golfballs said:

Vols - 72
UF - 69

If we get an open 3, shoot it. And most importantly, follow up all misses. Need to crash the offensive glass. I'd like to see the offense not run through Grant tonight. Prefer to see him focus on rebounding.

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I actually have thought it’s a game that if they aren’t doubling Grant can do some work in, was hoping for a bounce back from him, UF is lacking in the post.

Hoping Williams can get back on track tonight. Really need this W with Auburn losing Mack. Just a few games left to close the gap.

bleedingTNorange said:

I actually have thought it’s a game that if they aren’t doubling Grant can do some work in, was hoping for a bounce back from him, UF is lacking in the post.

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I imagine they will be.

We need to learn how to play better without Grant being so central to the offense. As we've seen it can be a real problem if he's stymied.

We need this win to get back on track and start our road towards March and what it might hold. Need to stay healthy and take care of the ball and come out on top and on to the next. I can not wait to get to KnoxVegas for the game I just hate it is a stupid 9 p.m. game again. We need the crowd out and loud tonight.

golfballs said:

I imagine they will be.

We need to learn how to play better without Grant being so central to the offense. As we've seen it can be a real problem if he's stymied.

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One way would be by having awesome guard play.

Kevarrius Hayes is a good defender. I don't necessarily think that is a match-up we can exploit especially when Alexander is off the floor. I feel like a broken record, but I'd like to see Walker more and less of Grant playing the 5

BigZiti09 said:

One way would be by having awesome guard play.

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Lamonte and Schofield are better offensively than Grant. A lot of Grant's game is getting to the FT line. But that's unreliable in tournament time.

golfballs said:

I imagine they will be.

We need to learn how to play better without Grant being so central to the offense. As we've seen it can be a real problem if he's stymied.

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Oh I agree...I think we are at our best when Grant is playing well, but also selective. Obviously that’s a perfect storm and hard to do, but when he is getting his, and then drawing attention thus giving us the wide open kick out 3’s we are at our best imo. When Grant isn’t playing well now our guards are going one on one and dribbling into 3’s and we shoot a much lower percentage on those looks than we do when the ball goes in and out.

Our assist:turnover numbers these last 4 games are at an all time low for this team, for most of the year we feasted on passing the ball and getting good looks...right now there is way too much 1-1 being played.

golfballs said:

Lamonte and Schofield are better offensively than Grant. A lot of Grant's game is getting to the FT line. But that's unreliable in tournament time.

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Yep. Need guard play for tourney time.

What does Vegas know that we don't? -4 is a small spread for a Top 20 team playing at home against a team that is NIT caliber that has lost 4 of 6?

BigOrangeMojo said:

What does Vegas know that we don't? -4 is a small spread for a Top 20 team playing at home against a team that is NIT caliber that has lost 4 of 6?

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Not really. Florida is much better than an NIT team and besides look at last nights lines.
Mizzu was only a 7pt favorite against the worst team in the league and LSU was only a 4 pt favorite vs Vandy. The miss state line was only 6. You just don't see big lines this time of year really

BigOrangeMojo said:

What does Vegas know that we don't? -4 is a small spread for a Top 20 team playing at home against a team that is NIT caliber that has lost 4 of 6?

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Huh? I was surprised by the 4, expected it to be closer. You do realize many have Florida as a 6 seed currently right?

Need this game bad. Hopefully we get 20 wins tonight. Play Walker and Johnson everbody looked gas the against Georgia.

I hate these 9:00 games but we usually seem to play well around this time.

Need this W bad!