The two halves of basketball were separated by a little less than 48 hours.
For the scuffling Tennessee Volunteers, it was just one long nightmare.
After being outscored by 19 points in the second half of a home loss to Vanderbilt on Thursday night, Tennessee lost for a ninth time in 11 games Saturday evening. Struggling Florida, aided by the return of its second-leading scorer, ran out to an 18-point halftime lead and eased to a 66-49 Southeastern Conference win in Gainesville.
“They came out, they punched the clock,” Armani Moore told the Vol Network radio broadcast after scoring a team-high 18 points. “They were more ready to go than we were today. I’ve just got to say they outplayed us today.”
The Vols are on a five-game losing streak for the first time since the 2000-01 season, when Tennessee went from a No. 4 ranking in January to an 8-8 SEC record, a first-round NCAA tournament exit and a coaching change.
Buzz Peterson’s final season, in 2004-05, was the last time Tennessee (14-14, 6-10) lost at least 10 SEC games.
It was the 500th career win for Billy Donovan, Florida’s 19th-year head coach.
“They played really well,” Vols coach Donnie Tyndall told the Vol Network. “We had some to do with that.”
Thursday, Tennessee allowed Vanderbilt to shoot 84 percent from the field and hit nine of 11 3-pointers in the second half, and Florida (14-15, 7-9) scorched the Vols for 69.5 percent shooting, seven 3s, eight dunks and two layups in the first half.
Over the 40 minutes, the Vols allowed the Commodores and Gators to hit 32 of 42 shots and 16 of 23 3-pointers.
“We’ve got to do a better job on the defensive side of the ball,” Moore said.
“They were going tonight,” he added. “We just weren’t getting out and guarding. We were worried about, I don’t know if it was the crowd or what it was, but those guys just came out and outplayed us tonight. We’ve got to do a better job.”
A day after he was reinstated following a three-game suspension for a violation of team rules, Dorian Finney-Smith wreaked havoc on the Vols with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance that included four 3s and two blocked shots.
“He’s a very good player,” Tyndall said. “He’s an All-SEC type talent. He’s had some problems here and there, but obviously he was the best player on the floor tonight.”
Tennessee leader Josh Richardson was quiet with just seven points on 3-of-7 shooting and didn’t score until the 15:45 mark of the second half.
“All year obviously they’re trying to take Josh away and make other people on our beat them, and (Florida) did a good job,” Tyndall said. “These guards are climbing into Josh and, at times, wearing him down.
“I don’t know that he was necessarily worn down tonight, but they just made him give the ball up, and that’s when other guys have to step up. For the most part, we didn’t get that tonight.”
Derek Reese added 10 points, but Kevin Punter and Robert Hubbs combined for just six points on 3-of-11 shooting.
The Gators finished 9-of-22 from 3-point range, easily surpassing their SEC-play averages for made 3s (6.1) and shooting percentage (.302), and registered their highest-scoring first half of the season. Florida had failed to crack the 65-point mark in the last nine games dating back to a 72-71 loss at Ole Miss on Jan. 24
Florida ran out to a 15-5 lead, never let Tennessee get closer than six points and took a 40-22 lead into the break after a 12-2 half-closing run. The Vols, down 23 points at one point, never got closer than 15 in the second half.
Tennessee finished 1-7 in February, the lone win an overtime victory at Vanderbilt.
“We’ve just got to be better,” Tyndall said. “I’m never going to make excuses. It’s a process; it’s a learning curve. We had some early success, so I think people got excited, which is a good thing. People maybe started to have some expectations, which I want. I embrace those expectations.
“But at the end of the day, we’ve got a really, really youthful basketball team. We only have nine scholarship players and guys are finding their way. When you have those situations, you’re going to have peaks and valleys, and that’s what we have. We’ll play well one game and not the next. We’ll play well one half and not the next.
“As you gain experience and get deeper and improve your talent level through recruiting, you get rid of those peaks and valleys, and you kind of have a nice steady flow. That’s what we’ll get to. We will. I’m not discouraged. I’m disappointed we didn’t win. I’m disappointed we didn’t play real well today. But I’m not discouraged. It’s going to happen.
“It’s just going to take a little time.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.