Colin Castleton had 20 points against Tennessee and averages 15.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. (Florida Athletics Photo)
Florida had a 15-0 first-half run and a second-half 13-0 run against Tennessee Wednesday to beat the visiting Volunteers 67-54 in first-year coach Todd Golden’s first signature win with the Gators.
“I think it’s affirmation that we can beat anybody when we play to our capabilities,” Golden said after the win. “Obviously, we played very well tonight and that’d be a high standard to hold us to on a nightly basis, but now we’ve shown the capacity to do it.
“The belief stems from that. It’s not about potential anymore. We proved we can beat one of the top teams in the country.”
Now they’ll try to prove that was no fluke when they play at Kentucky Saturday night.
Colin Castleton dominated Tennessee in the post with 20 points — all but four in the second half — and nine rebounds for Florida in a 67-54 win.
The Vols came into the game allowing just 34.5 percent-shooting from the field, 22 from 3 and only 54.5 points per game. Florida made seven 3-pointers and got to the foul line 24 times and hit 18.
However, don’t underestimate Florida’s defense going into Saturday night’s game. The Gators has a top 10 defense and the Vols shot just 27.9 percent so even though they had 20 more shots than the Gators thanks to 18 offensive rebounds. The Vols were just 5-for-25 from 3-point range.
Florida was coming off a loss at then No. 2 Kansas State before playing Tennessee and now Kentucky and then SEC leader Alabama.
“This was a desperation game. We have a tough schedule with this little stretch we have here, and we’ve got to win some games. Castleton said. “Just having that grit, that toughness, coming down with rebounds, going for loose balls — which we didn’t (earlier) in the second half when they were getting on their run — but we were able to just claw, and fight and we came out on top.”
Saturday’s night is big for both teams who are trying to build a NCAA Tournament resume. The Gators are 13-9 over and 6-3 in conference play with the three losses — two to Texas A&M, one to Auburn — by a combined eight points. Kentucky is also 6-3 in league play and on a five-game SEC win streak.
Alabama leads the league at 9-0 with Tennessee, Auburn and Texas A&M all 7-2. Kentucky and Florida are next at 6-3.
Calipari said on his radio show Wednesday night that he didn’t know until just before game time at Ole Miss that Cason Wallace would not play due to a knee contusion and was not sure yet if he would play against Florida.
“He banged knees and so it’s painful but there’s no structural (damage), that’s all good. But we’ll see,” Calipari said.
