Florida @ Tennessee preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 9, 2019 ) Florida 61, Tennessee 73

Florida is coming off one of its most impressive victories of the season, but the Gators still might have some work to do to secure an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. That process continues Saturday afternoon with a visit to Tennessee for an SEC matchup.

After its three-game winning streak ended with a narrow loss at No. 9 Kentucky, Florida bounced back with a 15-point victory at home over LSU on Wednesday behind sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson's career-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. "Coach (Mike) White said it a couple times throughout the year, but today he made it clear - he knows that if we play at the level we know we can play at and our staff knows we can play at, we can beat anyone in college basketball," freshman guard Scottie Lewis told reporters after the Gators shot 54.8 percent. "We made that clear today and that definitely gave us a lot of confidence today." The Volunteers have lost two straight and seven of their last 10 after an 86-69 setback at Arkansas on Wednesday. They've won the last three matchups with Florida, including two last season by double digits.

TIME: 2 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT FLORIDA (18-10, 10-5 SEC): Johnson is averaging 22.7 points on 65.7 percent shooting and 10 rebounds over his last three games, and he averages a team-high 14.3 points on 54.5 percent shooting overall. "Just playing at my pace," he told reporters Wednesday when asked about his hot stretch. "Just playing with confidence and shooting with confidence. Just playing the game, like coach said, and staying in the moment. Just letting the game come to me." Lewis chipped in a personal-best 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the win over LSU.

ABOUT TENNESSEE (15-13, 7-8): The Volunteers set themselves up for failure by falling behind 14-1 less than five minutes into the game at Arkansas. "I am troubled (by it) because it's the same old record. We keep talking about it," coach Rick Barnes told the media of the slow starts. "It's just guys that aren't doing what they need to do. Just not executing." Senior guard Jordan Bowden scored 19 points and is averaging 21.3 over his last three games to boost his team-leading mark to 13.8.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Volunteers junior G Yves Pons has at least one blocked shot in every game this season and leads the SEC with 2.4 per game.

2. Gators senior F Kerry Blackshear Jr. is second on the team in scoring (13.1) and leads the way on the glass with 7.5 boards per game.

3. Florida sophomore G Andrew Nembhard scored 17 points in each of his team's last two wins, but had four in the loss to Kentucky.

PREDICTION: Florida 73, Tennessee 67