The Tennessee men's basketball team clinched its first outright regular season SEC title in 41 years with a win over the Florida Gators in Gainesville on Wednesday night.  

The Vols fought back from a 13-point halftime deficit and held on down the stretch for an 89–86 victory behind 44 combined points from seniors JaJuan Smith and Chris Lofton.

Tyler Smith came up big for the Vols again with a put back on a missed free throw in the final minute of the game to break an 85–85 tie and give Tennessee the lead for good.

Florida was nearly unstoppable early, making its first nine shots of the game including five 3-pointers while building a 23–10 lead in the game's first six minutes. The Gators had accumulated 55 points by halftime on 68 percent shooting and had four players score in double digits.

The second half was a different story as JaJuan Smith helped the Vols claw their way back into the game with an array of difficult shots, including two 3-pointers and a layup in a 58-second stretch that gave Tennessee a 76–69 lead.

Freshman guard Nick Calathes hit two crucial 3-pointers late in the game for six of his game-high 24 points as the Gators stormed back to tie the game at 85.

Florida center Marreesse Speights missed one of two free throws after Tyler Smith's go-ahead basket and then Wayne Chism hit two free throws to provide the final margin.

The Gators actually had two chances to tie the game in the final 30 seconds, but Dan Werner was called for an offensive foul and Nick Calathes missed a 3-pointer after Florida was given the ball back on a controversial ruling by the officials on the inbounds play.

Mississippi State's overtime loss to Vanderbilt earlier in the evening enabled Tennessee to claim to the regular season SEC championship with the win in Gainesville.

Tyler Smith, Wayne Chism and J.P Prince all joined Lofton and JaJuan Smith in double figures for the Vols, who improve to 27–3 (13–2 Southeastern Conference) on the season heading into Sunday's regular season finale against South Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena.

My Take

It's good to see the Vols show mental toughness on the road now that March is underway, especially in a game they probably did not deserve to win looking at the percentages (Florida shot 59.6 percent for the game).

Howerver, grit and determination define this Volunteer squad and it showed down the stretch as they matched the Gators basket for basket in their gym.

Florida's big man Marreesse Speights proved once again the Vols struggle to contain agile post players. He shot 16-for-20 from the field in two games against Tennessee this season and regularly got away from Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith for easy dunks underneath.

On the other hand, we also saw that when the 3-ball is working for Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith, as it was tonight, the Vols are incredibly hard to stop. Despite defensive lapses that gave the Gators some open looks they should not have had, this was one of the Vols most efficient games of the year.

The Vols shot 52 percent from the floor and 45 percent from long range and only turned the ball over seven times while running up 89 points on the Gators.

On a final note, this was yet another missed opportunity for a young Florida team to add a signature win to its NCAA tournament resume.

With only one win against an RPI top 50 team (home vs. Vanderbilt), the two-time defending National champions will probably need a win in Lexington this weekend and a strong showing in the SEC tournament in Atlanta to warrant a bid to the Big Dance.

As for the Vols, I'll go ahead and predict a win on Sunday against the Gamecocks and a strong showing in Atlanta results in a No. 1 seed for the Big Orange alongside North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis.