Tag: 2021 sec tournament

Florida baseball faces Alabama in SEC Tournament semifinals

Here is a look below at the starting pitchers as well as details on how to follow Saturday afternoon’s action as Florida faces the Vols.

The No. 6 seed Florida Gators (38-19, 17-13 SEC) continue their Southeastern Conference journey on Saturday afternoon when they face the No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers (44-15, 20-10 SEC) in the semifinal round. UF has won three in a row since the start of the tournament while UT is 2-1 so far.

Tennessee stumbled to open things up in the tournament, losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the second round — a team Florida defeated en route to Saturday’s matchup. After beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the third round, the Vols bounced back and beat ‘Bama the second time around, landing them in the semifinals against the Gators.

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Florida and Alabama did not face each other during the regular season in 202. The last time the two schools met on the baseball diamond was in 2019 when the UF swept UA at home in a three-game set. It has been a while but hopefully the Gators have the ramma-jamma this time around… oooh AH!

Here is a look below at the starting pitchers lined up as well as details on how to follow Saturday afternoon’s action, along with the projected starting lineup.

Gators News: Championship weekend ahead for Florida sports

Here’s what happened on Thursday and what the weekend has in store for Gators sports, including baseball, softball and tennis’ Sam Riffice.

Another weekend is finally upon us, and while the final days of May fade away into the summer months, Gators sports are engaged in postseason play as the university’s athletic programs battle for their respective national titles. Over the next few days, the baseball team continues its grueling play in the SEC Tournament while the softball, men’s golf, and track and field teams all compete in their respective NCAA Tournaments. Then there is men’s tennis player Sam Riffice, who looks to become just the third-ever men’s player to win an individual national championship.

Here is a look at what happened on Thursday and what the weekend has in store for Gators sports.

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Florida baseball faces Alabama in SEC Tournament third round

Here’s a look below at the starting pitchers lined up for the Gators and Tide as well as how to follow Thursday afternoon’s action.

The No. 6 seed Florida Gators (37-19, 17-13 SEC) made it through the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Tuesday with a mercy-rule spanking of the No. 3 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs, 13-1, advancing to the next round of play.

Waiting for them in the third round winner’s bracket is the No. 10 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (31-22, 12-17 SEC), who punched their ticket for Thursday’s matchup with a win over the No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers in round two. ‘Bama’s upset sets the table for the Gators to possibly make a deep run in the tournament if Florida can capitalize.

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The Crimson Tide have not been very impressive this season, sporting a sub-.500 record in conference play. Much like the Gators, they ended the regular season with a four-game skid; however, they also dropped seven of their last eight. While the team had a pair of five-game winning streaks, there was plenty of losing mixed in there as well.

Thursday’s meeting will be the first between the two schools this season.

Here is a look below at the starting pitchers lined up as well as details on how to follow Thursday afternoon’s action, along with the projected starting lineup.

Florida baseball faces Mississippi State in SEC Tournament second round

Here’s a look at the matchup between the Florida Gators and the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Round 2 of the 2021 SEC Baseball Tournament.

The No. 13 Florida Gators (36-19, 17-13 SEC) made it past its first postseason hurdle against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday morning with a 4-1 win in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Now they face a much more formidable opponent in the No. 8 Mississippi Bulldogs (40-13, 20-10 SEC) who earned a first-round bye and is kicking off its tournament run Wednesday morning against the Gators starting bright and early at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

The Bulldogs have had a great year on the baseball diamond this season finishing in the top 10 in most major polls, reaching as high as No. 2 in Baseball America’s rankings and similarly ranked in several others. The squad hit a bump in the road on the way to the postseason dropping a three-game series to the Missouri Tigers, but then beat the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and swept the Alabama Crimson Tide to finish off its schedule.

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Historically, UF holds a modest edge on the MSU coming into Tuesday with a 66-51 record since the two teams first met on in 1923. It seems like the two schools would have played more than 117 games over that stretch given that they have both long been members of the SEC. The series started off extremely one-sided as the Bulldogs won the first 10-straight games — their longest winning streak in the series — while the Gators won nine straight from 1996 to 1998.

Things have tilted in Mississippi State’s direction in recent years as well, having won five in a row before Florida won their very last meeting in 2019, along with eight of the last 11 meetings. Suffice to say, MSU is not exactly a school Florida wants to face right now.

Here is a look below at the starting pitchers lined up as well as details on how to follow Tuesday night’s action, along with the projected starting lineup.

Florida baseball unlikely to host an NCAA super regional in 2021

After a sweep to Arkansas, Florida’s chances to host a super regional look bleak. The Gators need to regroup before SEC Tournament Tuesday.

The Florida baseball team will limp into Hoover, Alabama, for the SEC Tournament after being swept by No. 1 Arkansas.

The Gators sat No. 9 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 entering the final regular season weekend series. They needed to climb into the top eight and grab at least one game versus the Razorbacks to grab a national seed and host a super regional. However, they will most likely cling to a top-16 ranking that will allow them to host a regional.

Florida will need to regroup after it dropped four straight games to end the regular season. Coach Kevin O’Sullivan and his team missed out on the opportunity to earn a first-round bye. They will face No. 11-seeded Kentucky in the single-elimination first round Tuesday 10:30 a.m. EDT.

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“Bottom line is they just outplayed us this weekend,” O’Sullivan said about the sweep, according to FloridaGators.com. “They out pitched us; they outhit us. Credit them.”

He added that despite the difficult weekend Florida still needs to move on because postseason play begins Tuesday.

UF’s bats plunged into an ice bath and pitching lost its groove versus Arkansas. Florida batters struck out 44 times in 96 at-bats and only mustered seven runs in the series. The Gators pitching staff also allowed 19 runs total.

However, Arkansas averages 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings and only surrenders a 3.9 ERA to opponents. It also sits toward the top of the NCAA rankings in runs scored despite a pedestrian .276 batting average.

Florida has already faced the Wildcats in a three-game series in Lexington, Kentucky this season. It won the last two games after UF dropped the first one 7-5.

Sophomore outfielder Jud Fabian hit four for nine, including two homers in the second game of the series. Sophomore Kendrick Calilao only saw action in the final two games, but he went four for six and five RBI.

Kentucky’s catcher Coltyn Kessler was the only Wildcats batter who recorded a hit in each game. He finished the series four for 12.

The first pitch between Florida and Kentucky is slated for 10:30 a.m. EDT and can be seen on SEC Network.

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Tennessee knocks Florida out of the SEC Tournament: Three postgame takeaways

Florida basketball’s run in Nashville came to an end on Friday with a 78-66 loss against Tennessee. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Florida’s SEC Tournament run came to an end on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round, as the Gators lost the rubber match against Tennessee 78-66. The two teams split the series in the regular season, but the Vols won the latter game in Knoxville on Sunday in dominant fashion.

The rematch on a neutral court played out similarly. The weaknesses UF showed glimpses of in its win over Vanderbilt on Thursday were on full display against the Volunteers. Tennessee held control throughout the game, and it managed to send the Gators packing.

UF now heads home to await judgment from the NCAA Tournament committee. It wasn’t the week in Nashville that Florida hoped for, as it failed to gain anything save for another Quadrant 3 victory, but its resume is now finalized. Here are three takeaways from Florida’s final outing before the beginning of the big dance.

Tennessee basketball routs Gators 78-66 in SEC quarterfinals

Florida now waits for its NCAA Tournament seeding that wasn’t helped much by a win Thursday over Vanderbilt.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by the Associated Press and has been republished in its entirety below. 

Santiago Vescovi scored 14 points to lead five Volunteers in double figures, and Tennessee beat Florida 78-66 Friday to advance to the Southeastern Conference semifinals for a third straight tournament.

The Volunteers (18-7) won their second straight over Florida in the span of six days. The first gave the Vols a bye to the SEC quarterfinals, and they never trailed Friday to advance to Saturday’s semifinal against sixth-ranked Alabama, the SEC regular-season champ and an 85-48 winner over Mississippi State.

Yves Pons nearly had a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and nine blocked shots that tied the SEC tournament single-game record set by Kentucky’s Andre Riddick in the 1993 title game. Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer each had 13 points for the Vols, and Josiah-Jordan James added 10 with nine rebounds.

Florida (14-8) lost for the second time in three games.

Tre Mann, who was 1 of 8 for two points in the first half, finished with a career-high 30 points for the Gators. Tyree Appleby added 14.

Tennessee beat Florida 65-54 last Sunday to split the season series and earn the bye over the Gators. The Vols seemingly picked up where they left off, taking the lead off a John Fulkerson dunk 16 seconds into the game. A 12-2 run capped by a Uros Plavsic putback gave Tennessee its biggest lead at 28-12 with 6:21 left.

Then the Vols went cold, hitting one of their final 11 shots. The Gators pulled within 31-22 at halftime with Appleby hitting a 3 with 1:14 remaining.

Play got heated with 17:10 left when Fulkerson had to be helped to the locker room after a pair of elbows to his head from Florida forward Omar Payne. Replays showed Payne caught Fulkerson’ with a left, forearm shiver to the face, then put his right elbow into Fulkerson’s head. Officials ejected Payne after review.

The Vols, who led 35-26 at the time, scored eight of the next 11 and pushed the lead to as much as 17. Fulkerson didn’t return and finished with eight points.

BIG PICTURE

Florida: The SEC’s best shooting team couldn’t outshoot the Vols as they shot only 34.5 % (20 of 58) compared to 46.% (28 of 60). The Gators also struggled with their composure a bit too. Not only was Payne ejected for the flagrant foul, they picked up another technical with 11:49 to go during a media timeout.

Tennessee: Pons, the SEC defensive player of the year as a junior last season, had a career-high in blocked shots while also tying the school’s single-game record by halftime with six. The Vols had an 11-5 edge in blocked shots.

UP NEXT

Tennessee hasn’t won this event since 1979. But the Vols now are a win away from reaching the championship game for a third straight tournament, not counting last year with the cancellation. First, they must beat Alabama, which handed the Vols their first loss this season 71-63 on Jan. 2 in Knoxville.

Florida now waits for its NCAA Tournament seeding that wasn’t helped much by a win Thursday over Vanderbilt.

Georgia basketball’s K.D. Johnson named to SEC All-Freshman team

Georgia basteball guard K.D. Johnson was named to the SEC All-Freshman team today by league coaches. Details here.

Georgia guard K.D. Johnson was named to the coaches’ SEC All-Freshman team today.

The freshman is the Bulldogs second-leading scorer at 13.6 points per game behind sophomore guard Sahvir Wheeler, who also received league honors. Wheeler was named second-team All-SEC after averaging 14 points per game and leading the league in assists per game (7.2).

Johnson, from Atlanta, Ga., signed with the Bulldogs as a four-star recruit from Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., in the Bulldogs No. 33 ranked recruiting class of 2020.

Johnson only played 15 games, but was an absolute firecracker for the Bulldogs and recorded the most 20-point game performances in the SEC this season, including a 24-point game versus No. 8 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Via Georgiadogs.com:

It’s an honor and I’m very happy that I made the team, but I’m focused on the team and the game that’s ahead of us on Thursday,” Johnson said. “I’m excited about the award, but I’m more excited about the run we’re about to try to go on to get to ‘March Madness.’ We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

Johnson and the Bulldogs are the 10th seed in the 2021 SEC Tournament and are set to face seventh-seeded Missouri on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Georgia upset then No. 20 Missouri 80-70 on Feb. 16 in Athens.

 

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