What a weekend for the Florida Gators (30-4 straight up, 26-8 against the spread), who beat Tennessee 86-77 as five-point favorites in Sunday’s finals of the 2025 SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. The 163 combined points soared ‘over’ the 142-point total.
We advised readers to back Florida -5 for two units against the Volunteers and to also take the Gators -3 in the first half for one more unit. On Saturday in the semifinals, we advised readers to back UF -3 for three units vs. Alabama, in addition to a one-unit play on the Gators’ Team Total ‘over’ 89.5 points and a one-unit wager on UF -2 in the first half.
Those results against Alabama were 2-0-1 ATS, as we pushed on the first-half play but netted four units of profit. Therefore, that’s seven units of profit with the three units won vs. Tennessee during a 24-hour stretch.
But that’s not all. We also pulled in 7.8 units of profit by picking the Gators to win the SEC Tournament, risking three units for a +260 payout. That’s 14.8 units of profit that Florida produced for me (and hopefully you?) during a three-day stretch in Nashville.
(If you tailed and made some greenbacks, feel free to tip your bartender if you wish.)
Todd Golden’s team covered the number for first-half bets (-3) by taking a 39-30 lead over the Vols into halftime. Denzel Aberdeen’s 3-pointer with one second remaining staked UF to the nine-point lead.
The Gators extended their lead to 60-47 thanks to a pair of Thomas Haugh free throws with 10:46 remaining, but the Vols responded with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to five.
After several minutes of trading buckets, UF went on an 8-0 roll of its own to go ahead 78-64 on a pair of free throws from Will Richard with 4:22 left. From there, UT didn’t get closer than eight points.
The dagger came off of a steal from Alex Condon. UF pushed it off the turnover with Haugh hitting a streaking Alijah Martin with a perfect lob pass for a two-handed flush that put the Gators up 84-72 with 32 ticks remaining.
Walter Clayton Jr., UF’s first-team All-American point guard, scored a team-high 22 points for a second straight day. He finished the SEC Tournament with 62 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds and six steals.
“I came here because I believed in that vision,” Clayton told media members about winning titles at Florida. “See it come to fruition, it actually happening, is great.”
Florida’s 86-point output was the most points Tennessee has given up all season. UF went ‘over’ its Team Total of 74.5 points.
Richard added 17 points, draining 3-of-6 launches from 3-point land and all eight of his free-throw attempts. Condon finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Haugh had 11 points and six boards in only 18 minutes off the bench. Martin was also in double figures with 10 points.
Jordan Gainey had a game-high 24 points for the Vols in the losing effort. Zakai Zeigler added 23 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Florida is the #1 seed in the West Region that’ll play in the Raleigh pod this weekend. The Gators will take on Norfolk St. on Friday at 6:50 p.m. Eastern.
As of Monday morning, most books had UF listed as a 28.5 or 29-point favorite with a total of 153.5. If the Gators advance, they’ll play the winner of Oklahoma vs. UConn.
As for the Vols, they’re listed as 18.5-point ‘chalk’ vs. Wofford on Thursday at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
PREDICTIONS: Most spots have the Gators as even-money favorites to win the West Region. I’ll back Florida for five units to cut the nets down at Chase Center in San Francisco on March 29.