Florida held off Tennessee, 86-77, in Sunday’s championship game of the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
As with every game in this ultra-competitive conference tournament, the winners had to earn it.
Despite it looking at times as if 2-seed Florida was going to win comfortably, Tennessee did all it could to reduce that comfort level and repeatedly mounted comebacks to ensure that was the case.
In the end, though, the size, depth and timely shooting of the Gators were the deciding factors.
"The thing I'm most proud of is how well our guys compete whether it's going our way or not. They will always answer the bell and give it their best effort," Florida coach Todd Golden said. "I'm really proud we can call ourselves SEC Tournament champions."
This is the fifth SEC Tournament championship for the Gators, but their first in over a decade. They last won it in 2014.
It did not come easily. The Gators led 60-47 following a pair of Thomas Haugh (6'9''-F) free throws and appeared to be in complete control with 10:46 remaining in the contest.
Then on back-to-back possessions, Jordan Gainey hit a 3-pointer and added three more on a driving layup and a free throw after getting fouled. That got the decidedly pro-Tennessee crowd ramped up and was followed by another defensive stop that led to a fast break, where Zakai Zeigler (5'9''-PG-2002) fed Gainey, who was fouled on his dunk attempt.
Two more made Gainey free throws later, and the Florida lead had shrunk to 60-55 just like that. The whole Gainey-fueled sequence occurred in less than two minutes off the game clock, with 8:56 still remaining.
It was as close as Tennessee could get the rest of the way.
With the length and depth of the Florida big men making it difficult for Tennessee to drive to the basket, and with Tournament MVP Walter Clayton Jr. (6'3''-G-2003) Jr., Will Richard (6'4''-G-2002) and others dropping 3-point bombs seemingly every time the Vols threatened, it was just too much to overcome.
Clayton Jr. led Florida with 20 points, Richard dropped 17, and both Alex Condon (6'11''-F/C-2004) and Thomas Haugh added 11. Clayton Jr., Richard, Haugh and Denzel Aberdeen (6'5''-G) combined to hit half of their 18 three-point attempts.
Gainey led the Vols with 24 points and Zeigler battled gamely throughout while piling up 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Chaz Lanier added 11 points.

Courtesy of secsports.com

SEC Final:
Florida - Tennessee 86-77
SEC Semifinals:
Auburn - Tennessee 65-70
Florida - Alabama 104-82
SEC Quarterfinals:
Auburn - Ole Miss 62-57
Florida - Missouri 95-81
Alabama - Kentucky 99-70
Tennessee - Texas 83-72
SEC Second Round:
Texas A&M - Texas 89-94
Kentucky - Oklahoma 85-84
Missouri - Miss State 85-73
Ole Miss - Arkansas 83-80
SEC First Round:
Arkansas - S.Carolina 72-68
Miss State - LSU 91-62
Georgia - Oklahoma 75-81
Vanderbilt - Texas 72-79