Jan 12, 2019; Gainesville, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Admiral Schofield (5) shoots a three pointer in front of Florida Gators guard Andrew Nembhard (2) during the second half at Exactech Arena. Photo Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Admiral Schofield did it again. He nailed a clutch shot with under a minute to play which put the opponent on the edge of the plank. Admiral is a pirate, alright, and his consistent three-ball is a treasure chest of gold for the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers, who passed Florida 78-67 in a hard-fought matchup in Gainesville on Saturday.
Schofield’s three to beat then No. 1 Gonzaga earlier in the year brought on board any unbelievers in the overall ability of the Volunteers. Saturday’s clutch three wasn’t a game-winner, but it gave the Vols key separation with under a minute to play as they finished the game on an 8-0 run over the last 43 seconds.
“We got Grant the ball at the elbow and we knew they would collapse and he told those guys, ‘You get where you are supposed to be and I will make the pass,’” said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. “He found Admiral and that was a big shot obviously.”
The triple put Tennessee ahead 72-67 with 43 seconds to play. Williams drove the lane and sucked in the Gators’ defense on the right side of the floor. He immediately pitched the ball out to Schofield who was set and had a perfect look.
Different Volunteers stepped up in a tough environment in Exactech Arena and carried Tennessee in the second half.
Williams picked up the Vols with seven of 10 points as he converted a one-and-one with 11:45 to stretch the lead to 53-48.
This came just after he found himself with the ball at the top of the key with the Florida defense spread and he took the ball to the basket for a slam dunk as the lane opened up when he decided on the take.
“All of us have been in big games and we know how to handle things more experience,” said guard Jordan Bowden, who finished with 17 points in 29 minutes. “We just need to execute on both ends of the floor.”
Bowden had his own eruption over a two minute stretch as he scored 12 of those 17 points in a 1:49 span. Florida had a 56-53 lead and were scoring consistently at that point. Bowden’s slam dunk off a steal gave Tennessee the lead for good at 65-63 with 5:36 remaining.
Barnes noted that he had been after Bowden about his defense during the game. Bowden made the adjustments and let the defense take care of his offense.
“His teammates have a lot of confidence in him and we felt like if we could get some stops for those three guys (Bowden, Jordan Bone, and Lamonte’ Turner), they really like to run and we felt like if somebody could get out and go and it wasn’t such a grind in the half court we could get a little breathing room,” said Barnes.
Florida came after Tennessee early as their changing defenses and the ability of Kevaughn Allen and Noah Locke to hit the three-ball allowed the Gators to lead for most of the first half. It was an excellent game plan by Florida’s Mike White as the Gators just didn’t have enough physicality to be able to consistently challenge the Tennessee interior.
Allen and Locke had three triples in the opening 20 minutes each at halftime as Florida led, 38-35.
“I thought both teams played really, really hard and it was one of those games where you feel like every possession is critical,” said Barnes. “Coach White does such a great job with his screen game, offensively. They are terrific with their ball screen actions and what they try to do.”
Williams led the Volunteers with 20 points and nine boards, while Allen and Locke had 18 and 16 respectively for Florida.
