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Fading Gators Fall Flat

The Associated Press

Tennessee's Tyler Smith drives past Florida's Nick Calathes during the second half.

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 1, 2009

Updated: 03/01/2009 11:33 pm

GAINESVILLE - Now the Florida Gators know how the University of Tennessee football program feels.

Pick a number, Florida. Any number. The Volunteers have it.

Just as Florida has become the annoying pebble in UT's football shoe, the Volunteers are the bane of Gators basketball.

With a share of first place in the SEC Eastern Division at stake Sunday with one week of regular-season play remaining, Tennessee dumped Florida for the fifth consecutive game and seventh time in eight meetings.

"Our kids get excited about playing the University of Florida," Vols coach Bruce Pearl said. "All our athletic teams do."

Only Vols basketball does something about it.

This time it was a 79-75 decision that could rank as the narrowest lopsided pounding anyone in the O'Connell Center's sellout-crowd of 12,390 had even witnessed.

The win moved Tennessee to 18-10 overall and into a tie with South Carolina for the SEC East lead at 9-5. Florida lost for the first time this year at home, dropping to 21-8 overall and 8-6 in the SEC to tie for third with Kentucky.

UF, which has lost four of its past six, travels to Mississippi State on Wednesday and returns home to meet Kentucky on Saturday.

"I thought from the start we were trying to play catch up," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "We made it close, but I would say for most of the game, they were in control."

In fact, at times the Florida student section was left with little to shout about, reducing the Rowdy Reptiles to chanting "Timmmy Teeeeebow, Timmmy Teeeeebow" in honor of Mr. Football Hero sitting in the stands.

It wasn't until Tennessee stretched its advantage to 59-43 with 11:31 to play that the Gators began to produce an effort their quarterback could be proud of.

A pair of 3-pointers by freshman guard Erving Walker, another 3 by forward by Dan Warner and two free throws by guard Nick Calathes brought the Gators to within three, 73-70, with 1:31 left. That was a close as the Gators could get.

"They outplayed us for 30 minutes," Calathes said. "We tried to get it back but it was too much."

At least Florida got to go home. The Vols were stuck in Gainesville when their charter flight could not get out of Atlanta because of snow.

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534.

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