Santiago Vescovi heads for the basket
photo by James Boofer
Solid play on both ends of the floor in the second half helped the No. 18 Tennessee men's basketball come from behind to defeat the Florida Gators, 78-71, Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Santiago Vescovi posted a tremendous scoring night with 23 points, tying a career-high. It was his fourth game of 20+ points this season, before this year he only did so once. His big night came from beyond the arc as he sank 5-of-8 from downtown.
Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler also finished in double-figures with 17 and 11, respectively. Zeigler was strong from beyond the arc, making 3-of-5, and set a new career-high in rebounds, pulling down six. Chandler, on the other hand, was automatic from the free throw line making all six attempts.
Tennessee (14-5, 5-3 SEC) separated itself from Florida (12-8, 3-5 SEC) on the boards and in the passing game. The Big Orange outrebounded Florida, 34-24 and tallied 22 assists to Florida's 15.
The crowd of 20,789 was electric in a midweek battle with the Gators, blowing the roof off of Thompson-Boling Arena after a clutch and-1 from John Fulkerson with four minutes remaining in the game. Fulkerson tallied three blocks in the game, his sixth contest this season with multiple swatted shots.
The Gators offense was led by Anthony Duruji and Tyree Appleby who both scored 16. Appleby added a team-high seven assists.
Florida began the evening white hot, shooting 5-of-6 on 3-pointers and 8-of-11 from the floor. Tennessee's offense found an answer after the under-12 timeout, sinking three treys in a row, two from Ziegler and one from Chandler, to bring the Big Orange back from a 13-point deficit to within four. Vescovi cashed in eight points in the last two minutes as Tennessee trailed, 42-34, at the break.
Tennessee played a complete second half to complete the comeback over the Gators. The Vols held Florida to only 29 points in the period and capitalized on an 11-2 run lasting five minutes in the middle of the frame. UT fired at a 50 percent clip from the floor in the second and could not miss at the line, making all 13 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Volunteers will be back in action Saturday, Jan. 29, as they head to the Lone Star State to take on Texas in Austin for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Josiah-Jordan James on defense
photo by James Boofer