Florida Destroys Alabama in SEC Tournament Semifinal

After a back-and-forth first half, a big run by the Gators in the opening minutes of the second half crushed the Crimson Tide's chances of a third SEC Tournament title in five seasons.

Mar 15, 2025; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Mouhamed Dioubate (10) shoots between Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) and center Rueben Chinyelu (9) during the first half at Bridgestone Arena. / Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE, Tenn.––The Florida Gators might just be the best team in college basketball. After a closely-contested first half, 2-seed Florida blew 3-seed Alabama out of the water in the second half with a104-82 victory to secure a spot in the SEC Tournament finals, ending the Crimson Tide's run in Nashville.

"Obviously not one of our better games," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. "Florida's a very good team. We want to be the hardest playing, toughest team on the floor. We were not today, particularly in the second half. Thought they made a lot of tough plays. Started out of the gate in the second half with the boards in the first possession. I don't think we competed hard enough on our rebounds. We didn't do a good enough job on defense."

The first half was about as back-and-forth as a game can be with 12 ties and 10 lead changes. The momentum completely flipped in the second half when Chris Youngblood was called for a flagrant foul with 18:15 to go. Florida led 50-48 at the time of the foul.

The Gators made both free throws, scored on the extra possession as part of a 17-2 run that put Florida up double digits at the first media timeout of the second half. Everything spiraled from there for the Crimson Tide.

After the big run, Alabama was never in the game again. It didn't help that Alabama was without Grant Nelson for the entire second half as Nelson led the team in scoring at the break and was matching the physicality of Florida's bigs down low.

"It hurts a lot because he's a big part of our team," Alabama forward Clifford Omoruyi said about missing Nelson in the second half.

Alabama's starting guards Mark Sears and Labaron Philon both struggled shooting from the floor, and the offense was out of rhythm in the second half with their struggles and without Nelson. It was just the fourth time all season Sears didn't finish in double figures.

"We just got to continue to be just tough on defense," Sears said. "We got to do a better job of making shots easier on the offensive end."

Saturday's game was very similar to the first matchup between the two teams a few weeks ago with a tight game in the first half before Florida pulled away in the second half. The Gators have now beaten Alabama four straight times scoring over 100 points in three of the four matchups.

Florida had six players score in double figures, led by Walter Clayton Jr. who had 22 points on six made 3-pointers. Youngblood led Alabama with 14 points.

Alabama will now await its NCAA Tournament fate with the selection show Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will either be a 1-seed or 2-seed.

"We did a pretty good job regrouping last year," Oats said. "I think we can make another run this year. But we're going to have to play a lot better than we did in the second half of this game."

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BamaCentral Courtside: Florida 104, Alabama 82