University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
8-4, 1-2
Florida
14-2, 3-0
Florida Defeats Tennessee 77-64
January 15, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2003
GAINESVILLE - Matt Bonner scored a season-high 25 points to lead No. 6 Florida to a 77-64 win over visiting Tennessee at the O'Connell Center.
The Gators, who never trailed in the game, led by double-digits for most of the contest and by as many as 17 points in the second half. The Vols cut the lead to nine, 51-42, on a Thaydeus Holden three-pointer with 10:37 remaining, but could get no closer.
"Florida shot the basketball very well tonight," UT head coach Buzz Peterson said. "But I thought the key to the game was the first half. When you take 27 shots, and 13 of them are three's, and don't go to the free throw line one time--we're not going to beat many people. We're the type of team that has to stay in our offense."
Ron Slay, who entered the game as the SEC's leading scorer at 22 points per game, led the Vols with 17 points. Jon Higgins added 14 and C.J. Watson had 12 for Tennessee, which falls to 8-4 (1-2 SEC).
"They did a terrific defensive job on me tonight," said Slay. "I started kicking it out, but we missed some open shots. We didn't take bad shots, just some quick shots.
Bonner's 15 first-half points led the Gators to a 36-23 halftime advantage.
Slay became just the 26th player in UT history to score at least 1200 career points in the game and now ranks 24th on the Vols' all-time scoring list with 1212 points.
Florida (14-2, 3-0 SEC) extended its homecourt winning streak to 13 games dating back to last season. The Gators are 9-0 at home this season.
"Florida has so many guys that can score," Peterson said. "They always have four outside shooters out there. They have a lot of offensive weapons. Give them credit for being able to move the basketball."
The Gators connected on 10-of-19 from three-point range and limited the Vols to just 7-of-22 shooting from long range.
The Vols' 23 first-half points were a season-low--three points fewer than UT's first-half production in the season opener against Gardner-Webb Nov. 22.
Tennessee, coming off a 1-1 SEC road trip, returns home Saturday against intrastate rival Vanderbilt in a 7:30 p.m. (EST) tipoff at Thompson-Boling Arena.
