The No. 2 seed in the Southeastern Conference tournament is up for grabs, and the team that earns it just may land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
That means there is plenty to play for when No. 5 Florida faces No. 7 Alabama on Wednesday night at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Gators (25-4) and Crimson Tide (23-6) are tied for second place in the SEC with 12-4 marks with two games remaining.
Alabama completes the regular season on Saturday at No. 1 Auburn. The Gators finish at home the same day against Ole Miss.
This is the lone meeting of the season between the schools and it’s impossible to understate the importance.
“We have a chance to go into Tuscaloosa on Wednesday and if we win that game, then we’re in the driver’s seat to get second place,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “So we have a lot on the line left.”
The Crimson Tide was one game ahead of Florida until falling 79-76 at then-No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday.
Alabama led by four points with 36 seconds remaining and didn’t score again.
The Volunteers won the contest when Jahmai Mashack drilled a long 3-pointer as time expired.
“I feel like I failed these guys,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “For 39 and a half minutes, they outplayed them.”
It added up to a major meltdown with the conference ramifications involved.
“We probably could have had better guys in, been a little smaller with 3.8 (seconds) on the clock to make sure they didn’t get the ball up the floor,” Oats said. “We work on end-of-game situations in practice and expect our players to be good at them, and I was not good for the last 30 seconds (Saturday).”
The end result is that Alabama has lost three of its past five games after winning seven straight contests.
Mark Sears scored 24 points to continue his strong play and raise his season average to 19.1. He is averaging 27.5 points over the past four games and has made 17 of 40 3-pointers during the span.
Overall, Sears has made 74 3-pointers, three ahead of teammate Aden Holloway (12.0 points per game).
The Crimson Tide will look for Chris Youngblood to bounce back. He had just two points in the loss to Tennessee after he scored a season-high 27 points and matched his career best of seven 3-pointers in a 111-73 rout of Mississippi State on Feb. 25.
Florida has won 10 of its last 12 games after producing an 89-70 home victory over then-No. 12 Texas A&M on Saturday.
Will Richard matched his career best of six 3-pointers and scored 25 points to lead the Gators. Richard is averaging 27.5 points over the past two games while knocking down 20 of 30 shots, including 11 of 20 from 3-point range.
“We just did a great job staying aggressive,” Richard said. “(Alex) Condon did a great job making passes and plays, and I just hit open looks. It was good for us to finish a game that way. It was something that we can definitely build on.”
Richard (13.0) ranks third on the squad in scoring behind Walter Clayton Jr. (16.9) and Alijah Martin (14.7).
Richard has 61 3-pointers. Clayton has a team-best 77 and Martin has 63.
Florida won both of last season’s meetings. The Gators notched a 105-87 home win late in the regular season and then registered a 102-88 victory 10 days later in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament at Nashville.
–Field Level Media
