Tennessee basketball was down two of its top players and had just seven scholarship players available on Saturday afternoon. That mattered little as the Vols used elite defense and a big run in the game’s middle 10 minutes to coast past No. 5 Florida 64-44.

Here’s three quick takeaways on the win.

Tennessee Mucks It Up

With both Zakai Zeigler and Igor Milicic out, the Vols had to turn this game into a rock fight to have any chance of earning the victory. That request was much easier said than done against a Florida team that entered the game ranked third nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.

But Tennessee was able to do just that, bringing the game to a snail’s pace while playing hard and physical defense.

In the first half, Tennessee held Florida to just 21 points on 26% shooting from the field and 15% shooting from three-point range with very few reps coming uncontested.

The second half was much of the same with Tennessee absolutely putting the clamps on Florida’s highly touted offense and making offense look hard all game. Florida finished the afternoon with 44 points and just .710 points per possession.

Florida’s previously low on the season was 70 points. They had scored less than 80 points just four times all season.

Tennessee Goes On A Run Around Halftime

Florida never opened up a significant advantage but the Gators led for almost the entirety of the first 18 minutes of the game. Then came the sequence that changed the game.

Darlinstone Dubar rejected a shot at the rim. Florida got the offensive rebound and Cade Phillips rejected the put back. Jahmai Mashack grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Jordan Gainey who found Chaz Lanier on the left wing. He connected from 30-feet to give Tennessee its second lead of the game.

Tennessee broke the press 45 seconds later and Gainey found Cade Phillips on a lob. The strong 8-2 close to the first half gave the Vols a three-point lead at the intermission. That strong close to the half felt much like it did on Tuesday night against Kentucky.

But this time, Tennessee parlayed the strong close to the first half with a great start to the second half. The Vols scored the first six points of the second half including a pair of Jordan Gainey buckets.

The 6-0 run to start the second half gave Tennessee a nine-point lead and made it a 14-2 run in a 4:25 stretch around halftime. That stretch saw Tennessee not only take the leas but take control of the game.

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Tennessee Turns The Tide Inside

In the first meeting between these two teams, Florida outscored Tennessee 40-14 in the paint and out-rebounded the Vols 56-37.

Tennessee completely turned the tide on both those statistics in Saturday’s rematch. The Vols found more two-point offense then they have most of SEC play and they used it to earn a 34-14 points in the paint advantage.

A big part of that success came off of their ability to control the glass. Tennessee earned a 12-10 offensive rebound advantage over Florida including a 10-3 second chance points advantage.

Then on the other end of the court, Tennessee made everything difficult for Florida at the rim. With Milicic out, the Vols played much bigger lineups and frequently had Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips on the court together. Tennessee’s bigs combined to block seven shots and kept Florida from having success at the rim.

Final Stats

Up Next

Tennessee basketball has its third game in a three-game home stand on Wednesday night when they host Missouri at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET and the SEC Network is broadcasting the game.