The Gators started hot, and then went cold.
But with an early exit from the SEC Tournament looming as a possibility, the Gators heated back up in the second half for an 85-74 victory over Tennessee on Friday night at the Georgia Dome.
The Gators advanced to face the Vanderbilt-Mississippi State winner on Saturday (ABC, 3:30 p.m.) in the SEC semifinals.
All five Florida starters scored in double-figures as the Gators knocked off Tennessee for the third time this season, the first time in school history they have beaten the Volunteers three times in one season. Friday was the schools' first meeting in the SEC Tournament since 1989.
The Gators (25-6) came out and immediately jumped to a 25-13 lead behind eight early points from Alex Tyus.
However, the Vols started firing back to close the first half on a 21-4 behind 18 first-half points from freshman Tobias Harris, who was 8-for-10 from the floor in the first half. Harris finished with a game-high 25 points, but only seven after halftime.
The Gators went cold late in the first half, failing to score a point in the final 6 minutes, 22 seconds to allow the Vols to take a 34-29 lead at the break.
However, the second half belonged to the Gators after a basket by Scotty Hopson tied the game 50-50.
Florida went on a 25-12 run and never looked back thanks to a strong second-half shooting performance from guard Kenny Boynton, who led the Gators with 22 points. Erving Walker added 17 points, Vernon Macklin, 15, Chandler Parsons 12 and Tyus finished with 10.
"We got off to a great hot-shooting start,'' UF coach Billy Donovan said. "Then we struggled. They really got into us.''
The first half was full of runs, the first a 7-0 spurt by the Gators to go up 16-6 on Tyus' dunk on a pass from Boynton. The Gators took their biggest lead at 25-13 in the opening half.
The Gators had 16 points in the paint in the first 11 minutes of the game; over the final nine minutes of the first half the Vols held Florida scoreless in the paint to take control.
It also didn't help that Florida committed eight turnovers in the first half.
But in the end, the Gators overcame their late first-half struggles to win their opening game in the SEC Tournament for the third consecutive season.
"I think our guys were ready to play,'' Donovan said. "For our team, we had to work through that [stretch at the end of the first half].''
