Second-half scare

Tennessee took a 19-point lead with its prettiest offensive possession of the day. Santiago Vescovi tossed a behind-thehead pass to Yves Pons, who swung to James, who chucked a two-handed pass to Fulkerson for an open dunk and a 4829 lead.

Then it got bad.

Florida scored six straight and UT coach Rick Barnes called a timeout. Vescovi scored out of the timeout before Florida scored eight straight to cut UT'S lead to 50-43.

The Vols got back to a nine-point lead with a pair of blocks and a Fulkerson jumper. But Fulkerson missed back-toback one-and-ones, leaving Florida with room to close.

Blackshear, who scored 15 second-half points, scored seven straight to get Florida within 54-52 on a 23-6 run.

Florida pulled within one after a pair of Blackshear free throws before Fulkerson

hit his 3-pointer with 2:24 to play for a four-point lead. His putback dunk gave Tennessee a four-point lead again with less than a minute to play.

Noah Locke scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half for Florida. Tre Mann scored all nine of his points after halftime.

Stifling early defense

Florida's Scottie Lewis passed up a 3pointer midway through the first half and drove for an open layup. He made it to pull the Gators within 16-14 with 9:49 to play before halftime.

Tennessee did not allow Florida to score from the field again in the first half. The Gators missed their next 10 field-goal attempts and scored only three points at the free-throw line.

Florida's 17 points were the fewest the Vols allowed in a first half this season.

The Vols had no such problems scoring early. James drove baseline and passed for a Pons dunk, then tipped in a Vescovi missed jumper. Vescovi assisted Bowden for a 3-pointer and hit one of his own for a 10-0 run and Tennessee took a double-digit lead for the first time.

Big recruiting visitor

Tennessee hosted five-star forward Jabari Smith on Saturday. The Tyrone (Georgia) Sandy Creek product is the No. 5 recruit in the nation in the 247Sports Composite.

The 6-foot-10, 210-pound Smith also has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss among others.

Up next

Tennessee faces Kentucky on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN). Kentucky beat Tennessee 77-64 on Feb. 8.

CALVIN MATTHEIS/NEWS SENTINEL Tennessee’s Yves Pons (35) dunks past Florida’s Andrew Nembhard (2) on Saturday.