Boogie Fland poured in a season-high 23 points, and Florida won for the fourth straight time at home over Tennessee by plastering the No. 21 Volunteers 91-67 on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, Fla.
The first-year Florida point guard went 9 of 13 from the floor and 3 of 6 from distance, adding five assists and four steals, to propel the Gators (11-5, 2-1 SEC) to a surprisingly comfortable win over Tennessee (11-5, 1-2).
Rueben Chinyelu had 17 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out. Thomas Haugh notched 13 points and five steals. Urban Klavzar had 15 points off the bench, while Alex Condon totaled 11 points and seven rebounds.
In extending their home winnings streak to seven games, the Gators won the rebound battle 41-30 and led 38-30 in paint points.
The Volunteers (11-5, 1-2) got 17 points and four rebounds from Nate Ament. Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Jaylen Carey scored 12 apiece. DeWayne Brown added 10 points but the visitors committed 18 turnovers.
Tennessee took off on a good start behind Ament’s five quick points to lead 7-3 inside four minutes. Lee hit a long-range shot to knot it 10-all, but Fland committed his second foul at 12 minutes and headed to the bench.
Chinyelu’s three-point play gave the Gators their first lead at 10:20, and the low-scoring start kept them within a possession for most of the half until Haugh canned a trey from the wing off an inbounds play to make it 26-21 at 5:30.
The defending national champions led the rest of the first 20 minutes, with the Volunteers doing their best to help by committing 12 turnovers in a bruising game in the lane.
Fland netted seven points in the final two minutes as the Gators ripped off a 15-2 run and jogged to the locker room with a 41-28 advantage.
Florida held an 18-6 lead in points off turnovers, leading to Tennessee’s biggest halftime deficit this season.
In the second half, Haugh’s two free throws at 17:35 increased the lead to 18 as Tennessee had trouble finding offense. Klavzar, a long-range specialist, hit a trey at 14:55 to push the margin to 55-35.
The Gators kept the lead around 20 points for the remainder of the contest and rolled on to their second consecutive conference win.
