Florida waited until February before getting a signature victory in men's basketball, and it came at Tennessee's expense.
Two days after earning a No. 2 national ranking, the Volunteers had no answers Wednesday night for 6-foot-11 forward Colin Castleton in a 67-54 loss to the Gators in Gainesville. The fifth-year senior scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and grabbed nine rebounds to help deal Tennessee its largest loss of the season.
"He's a good player, and we did some good things against him early," Vols coach Rick Barnes said, "but our post defense wasn't good, and we gave him angles. We let him get too close to the rim."
Florida first-year coach Todd Golden called it "an awesome win for our program" after the Gators improved to 13-9 overall and 6-3 in Southeastern Conference play. The Vols fell to 18-4 and 7-2.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Zakai Zeigler and three free throws by Santiago Vescovi keyed an 11-2 run just before the midway mark of the second half as the Vols turned a 36-33 deficit into a 44-38 lead, but Florida answered with a 13-0 surge that turned a 46-42 hole into a 55-46 advantage. Castleton had five points in the decisive stretch, which was capped by a Kyle Lofton 3-pointer with 5:12 to play.
Zeigler led the Vols with 15 points but was just 6-of-19 from the floor, while Vescovi and Olivier Nkamhoua each added 11.
"We should have just kept our foot on the gas and started building the lead, but those guys attacked our weaknesses on offense and found plays that they could make," Nkamhoua said. "They caught us sleeping on defense, and we were a step slow."
The Gators jumped out to a 17-4 lead seven minutes into the game behind 3-pointers from Will Richard, Myreon Jones and Trey Bonham. Tennessee was shooting 10% through two media timeouts and Zeigler had two quick turnovers, but the Vols steadily chipped away at the deficit and pulled within 22-21 on a Nkamhoua layup with 4:05 before halftime.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.