GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In 58 previous meetings spanning more than four decades, Florida’s often feeble women’s basketball program never did anything like this to mighty Tennessee: A complete beatdown.
Kiki Smith scored 25 points and Nina Rickards added 16 as the Gators stunned No. 7 Tennessee 84-59 on Thursday night, giving Florida its fifth victory in 59 meetings with the Lady Volunteers
“I don’t know that we were ever in it,” said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper, a point guard for the Lady Vols in the late 1990s. “Florida came out and punched us right in the mouth, and we never responded.”
The Gators improved to 16-6 overall and 6-3 against Southeastern Conference competition this season, while the Lady Vols dropped to 19-3, 8-2. Alexus Dye led Tennessee with 10 points and six rebounds, and Rae Burrell added nine points.
Harper’s third season as head coach at her alma mater, after getting off to the program’s best start in more than a decade, has suddenly hit a bumpy stretch. This setback came a week to the day the Lady Vols lost on the road to unranked Auburn, 71-61, and Tennessee had to rally from 13 down to pull off Monday’s 86-83 overtime win against Arkansas in Knoxville.
Next up is a trip to Hartford, Connecticut, for Sunday’s noon game against 10th-ranked UConn, which is 14-4 going into Friday’s matchup with Butler.
For the Gators, this was its biggest win in the series – its second in the past 19 tries – and arguably its most surprising in program history. None of the Gators’ previous four victories against Tennessee had been by more than nine points.
Zippy Broughton chipped in 10 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Gators, who have become one of college basketball’s biggest surprises after a rocky offseason. Abuse allegations ended with former coach Cam Newbauer’s resignation in mid-July, but interim coach Kelly Rae Finley took over and now has the Gators on the verge of being nationally ranked for the first time since December 2016.
Florida won for the sixth time in seven games, with the lone loss 62-50 to top-ranked South Carolina this past Sunday, when the Gators trailed 19-3 after the first quarter. They had no such trouble against Tennessee.
“We talked a lot about putting it on from start to finish, from the tip,” Smith said.
Florida opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter and started to pull away in the third. Smith and Broughton dominated the guard matchup, breaking down Tennessee’s defense and creating open shots. They also helped forced 18 turnovers that Florida turned into 26 points.
Senior swing player Burrell, standout junior Jordan Horston and graduate transfer Jordan Walker committed 15 of Tennessee’s turnovers, including 11 in the first half. Sloppy play was the main reason Tennessee trailed 36-29 at the break and was down 12 during the second quarter.
“It was an onslaught coming right at us,” Harper said. “These turnovers resulted in wide-open layups. We could play them tomorrow, and I don’t know if we’d beat them.”
The Gators outscored the Lady Vols 23-12 in the third and shot a blistering 65.5% in the second half. Tennessee looked gassed at times.
“I thought we were going to be OK coming in,” Harper said. “I thought we might be a little tired. But I don’t know that it had anything to with the overtime (against Arkansas on Monday).”
Florida outscored Tennessee 24-1 on fast breaks.
“Our advantages are in quickness and our speed,” Finley said. “We knew that’s where our advantage was. Their advantage was their size. If we allowed them to play their offense at the 3-point line and post up our guards, it was going to be a long night. We bought into that, we understood the assignment, and I thought we executed it pretty much to perfection.”