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Down Goes No. 1: Gators Make Statement in Upset Win Over Top-Ranked Vols

Florida defeated a No. 1 team in the regular season for the first time in program history behind an 18-point effort from Alijah Martin.

Cam Parker

Jan 7, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu (9) blocks a layup from Tennessee Volunteers guard Chaz Lanier (2) during the first half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Jan 7, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu (9) blocks a layup from Tennessee Volunteers guard Chaz Lanier (2) during the first half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
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GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Down goes No. 1.

Less than a week after its heartbreaking road loss to No. 10 Kentucky, the No. 8 Florida Gators found greater success, upsetting the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday, 73-43, in front of a crowd of over 11,000 inside Exactech Arena.

It's Florida's first regular season win over an AP No.1-ranked team in program history and the most lopsided win over a No. 1-ranked team in the NCAA since 1968.

"We knew this was going to be a really challenging game for us, but we also do believe we're getting to that point where we expect to win these types of games," head coach Todd Golden said. "It's hard to say when you host the No. 1 team in the country that you expect to win, but I think our program did going into this game tonight."

While Florida didn't shoot particularly well against the nation's No. 2 defense by shooting under 40% from the field and 30% from deep, the Gator defense held Tennessee to an abysmal mark of 12-for-56 from the field and a 4-for-29 from deep.

Tennessee's Chaz Lanier, a top-15 scorer nationally and the SEC's league leader with 20.3 points per game, was held to 10 points on 3-for-16 shooting, including a 1-for-9 mark from deep.

"We just kind of stayed in him, you know, we didn't want to give him no breathing room," guard Alijah Martin said. "We know he's an unbelievable talent, unbelievable shooter. Don't need no space. And that was the gameplan, just don't give him no space. Don't give nothing easy."

Meanwhile, Martin sparked Florida with a game-high 18 points, while Denzel Aberdeen added a season-high 16 points off the bench. Alex Condon added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Rueben Chinyelu set a career-high in rebounds with 15.

The Gators out-rebounded the Volunteers 55-38 with 19 offensive rebounds.

Early Dominate Defense, Highlight Plays Spark Florida

The Gators simply dominated the first half with a stout defensive effort, holding Tennessee to 4-for-29 from the field and 0-for-14 from deep. Nearly half of Tennessee's 14 first-half points came from the free-throw line.

Florida began Tuesday's matchup with a 12-0 scoring run, sparked by a fast break dunk by Alex Condon and an and-one by Alijah Martin. Meanwhile, Tennessee missed its first nine shots while turning the ball over four times before putting points on the board.

After giving up six-straight points to the Volunteers, the Gators found more sparks. Aberdeen, who had a game-high 10 points in the first half, knocked down a 3-pointer before Will Richard hit another right after.

The duo's back-to-back 3-pointers ended a three-minute scoring drought in which Florida shot 0-for-8 while giving the Gators an 18-6 lead.

“‘Zel’s super important to us," Golden said. "You know, obviously, doesn’t start, but he's, you know, the only other perimeter that's getting consistent minutes, and when he plays well, we're really, really good. And, you know, I thought he did some good things last Saturday, but some things that we need more from him, and tonight we got more from him."

The rest of the half was marred scoring droughts for both teams as Tennessee went on multiple dry spells lasting nearly two minutes, including a four-minute dry spell from the six-minute mark. Meanwhile, Florida had a near-two-minute scoring drought from the 7:19-mark, which was ended by a layup from Aberdeen, and another with just under five minutes left before a Sam Alexis jumper gave the Gators a 30-14 lead.

"So, we knew coming into this game, we had to stop letting threes come up easily," Aberdeen said. "And luckily, they missed a lot, a lot of the threes, but we still stuck together and talked through it, and we fought through screens cause they were sending a lot of down screens and stuff."

Florida would take a 34-15 lead into the locker room after a pair of layups from Richard and Alex Condon.

Alijah Martin Leads the 2nd Half, More Fouls than Buckets

Martin scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the second half with two 3-pointers and a pair of dunks.

After an early 3-pointer from Lanier, the Gators scored six-straight points thanks to a 3-pointer from Walter Clayton Jr. and a pair of dunks from Martin and a layup from Condon.

Fouling overtook the defensive highlights in the second half with the Gators being called for 12 total personal fouls, including four called on Chinyelu. However, Tennessee's shooting struggles extended to the free throw line with only eight makes on 17 attempts.

Additionally, the Gators continued to shut down Tennessee's offense holding the Volunteers to a 8-for-27 mark from the field and 4-for-15 mark from deep.

At one point, Florida took a 36-point lead in the second half behind a near-four-minute run where the Gators outscored Tennessee 10-1 behind back-to-back buckets from Chinyelu and Clayton Jr., free throws from Condon, a free throw and a 3-pointer from Aberdeen.

Martin's final field goal came after Aberdeen's 3-pointer with his own as time on the shot clock expired with 2:39 left in the game.

"It's up there," Martin said of where the shot ranks for him personally. "I don’t really like pay attention, or keep track of stuff like that. It’s up there, it felt good. The crowd was crazy. That’s what we do."

Next Up

The Gators return to the floor on Saturday for its SEC road opener against Arkansas. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. ET with television coverage on ESPN.

"It's awesome in the moment, and we're gonna enjoy it tonight, our guys are out tomorrow," Golden said. "But it certainly won't feel as good if we don't go and find a way to win in Fayetteville on Saturday. So we'll enjoy it tonight. We'll start prepping for Arkansas tomorrow, and we got to find a way to get to 2-1 in this league - because any road win in this league is going to feel like gold."

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Cam Parker
CAM PARKER

Cam Parker is a contributing writer at AllGators.com of FanNation-Sports Illustrated and is a recent graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. He also covers and broadcasts Alachua County high school sports with The Prep Zone and Mainstreet Daily News. When he isn't writing, he enjoys listening to '70s music such as The Band or Lynyrd Skynyrd, binge-watching shows and playing with his cat, Chester.

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