No. 8 Tennessee avenged its January dud versus Florida with a dominant defensive display against the No. 5 Gators on Saturday in the rematch in Knoxville, winning 64-44 to score its largest win vs.
a top-five team in school history and first since defeating No. 1 Alabama on Feb. 15, 2023.
The Vols' win came with only seven scholarship players available with second-leading scorer Zakai Zeigler and leading rebounder Igor Milicic Jr . both sidelined due to injury and illness, respectively. Florida handed Tennessee its first loss of the season on Jan.
7 in Gainesville in stunning fashion, 73-43, after Tennessee opened its season 14-0. The revenge game for Tennessee was arguably more impressive as it held Florida -- No. 7 in points per game and No.
3 in adjusted efficiency on offense -- to its fewest points in a game since Feb. 10, 1990, when it scored just 40 points in a road loss to Georgetown , and to its lowest field goal percentage (24.5%) in a single-game on record, per CBB Reference data, which dates back to 1938-39.
OHHH THEM BOYS HOOPIN NOW 📺 ESPN 📲 https://t.co/lhCyaX19Zh pic.twitter.
com/EJGYqJTzsf Tennessee stumbled into Saturday shorthanded with losses in three of its last four games and struggling vs. teams ranked inside the top five of the AP poll. It snapped a two-game skid for the Vols and a four-game losing streak vs.
teams ranked inside the top-five to boot. Florida's high-octane offense, led by Walter Clayton Jr. , finished the day shooting 13 of 53 from t.