Florida head coach Todd Golden confirms suspicion about Tennessee Vols' blowout win against the Gators

Almost everyone thought the Tennessee Vols had no chance against the Florida Gators on Saturday — even though the game was in Knoxville.  The Volunteers took the floor against Florida without two of their top players — Zakai Zeigler (knee) and Igor Milicic Jr (illness) — just a few weeks after suffering a 30-point loss […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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Almost everyone thought the Tennessee Vols had no chance against the Florida Gators on Saturday — even though the game was in Knoxville. 

The Volunteers took the floor against Florida without two of their top players — Zakai Zeigler (knee) and Igor Milicic Jr (illness) — just a few weeks after suffering a 30-point loss to the Gators in Gainesville. 

Despite the absence of Zeigler and Milicic, the Vols were dominant against the Gators, cruising to a 64-44 win in front of a rowdy crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena. 

Tennessee is obviously a better team with Zeigler and Milicic on the court. But on Saturday, it felt like the Vols rallied around not having those two players available. 

Florida head coach Todd Golden saw it the same way. 

"In a weird way, Zakai’s an amazing player, they’re definitely not better without him, but today it seemed like they kind of rallied around not having him or Igor out there," said Golden after the game, seemingly confirming everyone's suspicion about the Vols' inspired performance. "And the guys that got the opportunity and got the minutes took full advantage of it. And they were collectively, again, they were very tough — they were very physical and they set the tone from start to finish."

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes told reporters after the game that Jahmai Mashack set the tone before the game by telling his teammates that they had "enough" to get a win against the Gators despite not having Zeigler and Milicic. 

"When they gathered at the circle to get done, Jahmai Mashack looked at everyone and said, ‘Hey, we got enough right here. We got enough right here to get done what we need to get done and we’ll stick together, carry out the game plan, do what we’re talking about here.’ And I’m as proud of these guys as any team since I’ve been here because of the way they prepared for it and the belief that they knew they could go out and get a win," explained Barnes. 

Sometimes, playing inspired is all it takes to lead a team to victory when it seems that nobody is giving them a chance. And that appears to be exactly what happened on Saturday afternoon on Rocky Top. 

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