Florida basketball kept its Southeastern Conference Tournament title hopes alive on Friday night with a firm beatdown of the Alabama Crimson Tide, resulting in a resounding 102-88 victory for the Gators. That earned the team a ticket to the semifinal round held on Saturday.
In ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index update following the win, the Orange and Blue rose two spots from Friday’s ranking to No. 24. That puts Todd Golden’s team between the No. 23 Texas Tech Red Raiders and No. 25 St. John’s Red Storm.
Florida’s BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength moving forward — rose 0.5 points to 12.3 since the last update. The offensive BPI rose 0.2 points to 8.6 while the defensive BPI rose 0.1 points to 3.6.
Florida moves on to the semifinal round on Saturday, March 16, in Nashville where they will face the Texas A&M Aggies, who beat them in College Station by just one point the last time the two teams met. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game can be watched on ESPN.
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