#4 Tennessee (-3) @ Florida: O/U: 155
Tennessee (RPI #1, Sagarin #6)
26-3 overall
14-11 ATS
8-2 away
12-2 conference
O/U: 10-15
SOS: 2
Florida (RPI #62, Sagarin #43)
21-8 overall
11-9 ATS
16-3 home
8-6 conference
O/U: 10-9-1
SOS: 110
The Tennessee Volunteers hit the road looking to lock up a #1 seed while the Gators hope to knock the Vols off and get into the Big Dance. UT is closing out its toughest stretch of the season which has seen the Vols play at Memphis, at Vanderbilt, and home vs. Kentucky. Meanwhile, The Gators are in search of just their second win over a top 50 team as they rebound from the embarrassing 59 point effort they produced this weekend at Mississippi State.
Coach Billy Donovan sums up his thoughts on facing Tennessee tonight, "They can beat you in transition. They can beat you by making you turn it over. They can beat you by offensive rebounding which is what they did to Memphis. With (Chris) Lofton and JaJuan Smith they can beat you from behind the line. A guy like Tyler Smith can beat you in a lot of ways". Clearly the head coach knows what his team is up against tonight, now we have to see if he can get his kids ready for the Challenge. The last time these two teams met it was a shoot out in Knoxville. That match-up saw Florida jump our early only to lose the second half 60-34 in a game that Tennessee covered with ease.
What gave the men in orange problems early on was Florida's ball screen offense that many teams will try to beat with the zone, but that's not what coach Bruce Pearl as in mind, "What they're doing with ball screen offense is something that most teams, including Mississippi State, went 'forget about guarding that, we're just going to go 2-3 zone and use our length and size and if they make a few shots they make a few shots, but forget about guarding that ball screen stuff, it's too good, Pearl said of how other teams approach playing the Gators.
"But that's not how we roll, not how we're trained. Their stuff works best against our stuff. So be it. We're going to have to find a way."
Nope, thats not how they roll. Tennessee will stick to their guns and let the Gators try to run with them as long as they like. Tennessee has no plans to try and slow down the pace of this one.
This game is going to come down to which team can outlast the other. In the last meeting Tennessee was able to feed off the atmosphere and run away from the visitors in the second half. In this contest the home team will try to do the same, but they'll be facing one of the better road teams in the country. Tennessee is 10-2 on the road and they boast two of the five best road wins of the season according to SI; at Xavier and at Memphis, to go along with a road win at Mississippi State. That being said, Florida managed to hit nearly 54% from the field in the last meeting between these schools and they did so by creating easy buckets around the goal. Florida only knocked down 29% of their threes, but they were able to get to the rim early and often with their ball screen offense. I think the kids will have their track shoes on again and the Vols offense will play a bit more loosely now that they've locked up the SEC east. UF scores over 82 a game at home and Tennessee will enjoy running with them this evening.
my play:
Tennessee over 155
stat for those looking at the sides:
Vols are 10-2 vs the top 50
UF is 1-6 vs the top 50
Tennessee (RPI #1, Sagarin #6)
26-3 overall
14-11 ATS
8-2 away
12-2 conference
O/U: 10-15
SOS: 2
Florida (RPI #62, Sagarin #43)
21-8 overall
11-9 ATS
16-3 home
8-6 conference
O/U: 10-9-1
SOS: 110
The Tennessee Volunteers hit the road looking to lock up a #1 seed while the Gators hope to knock the Vols off and get into the Big Dance. UT is closing out its toughest stretch of the season which has seen the Vols play at Memphis, at Vanderbilt, and home vs. Kentucky. Meanwhile, The Gators are in search of just their second win over a top 50 team as they rebound from the embarrassing 59 point effort they produced this weekend at Mississippi State.
Coach Billy Donovan sums up his thoughts on facing Tennessee tonight, "They can beat you in transition. They can beat you by making you turn it over. They can beat you by offensive rebounding which is what they did to Memphis. With (Chris) Lofton and JaJuan Smith they can beat you from behind the line. A guy like Tyler Smith can beat you in a lot of ways". Clearly the head coach knows what his team is up against tonight, now we have to see if he can get his kids ready for the Challenge. The last time these two teams met it was a shoot out in Knoxville. That match-up saw Florida jump our early only to lose the second half 60-34 in a game that Tennessee covered with ease.
What gave the men in orange problems early on was Florida's ball screen offense that many teams will try to beat with the zone, but that's not what coach Bruce Pearl as in mind, "What they're doing with ball screen offense is something that most teams, including Mississippi State, went 'forget about guarding that, we're just going to go 2-3 zone and use our length and size and if they make a few shots they make a few shots, but forget about guarding that ball screen stuff, it's too good, Pearl said of how other teams approach playing the Gators.
"But that's not how we roll, not how we're trained. Their stuff works best against our stuff. So be it. We're going to have to find a way."
Nope, thats not how they roll. Tennessee will stick to their guns and let the Gators try to run with them as long as they like. Tennessee has no plans to try and slow down the pace of this one.
This game is going to come down to which team can outlast the other. In the last meeting Tennessee was able to feed off the atmosphere and run away from the visitors in the second half. In this contest the home team will try to do the same, but they'll be facing one of the better road teams in the country. Tennessee is 10-2 on the road and they boast two of the five best road wins of the season according to SI; at Xavier and at Memphis, to go along with a road win at Mississippi State. That being said, Florida managed to hit nearly 54% from the field in the last meeting between these schools and they did so by creating easy buckets around the goal. Florida only knocked down 29% of their threes, but they were able to get to the rim early and often with their ball screen offense. I think the kids will have their track shoes on again and the Vols offense will play a bit more loosely now that they've locked up the SEC east. UF scores over 82 a game at home and Tennessee will enjoy running with them this evening.
my play:
Tennessee over 155
stat for those looking at the sides:
Vols are 10-2 vs the top 50
UF is 1-6 vs the top 50
