SEC Championship Prediction: Why Florida will beat Tennessee and secure a No. 1 seed on Sunday

The Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers meet in the SEC Championship Sunday.

Let’s take a look at this matchup that many fans didn’t expect to see in the title game.

All season long, the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide looked like the best teams in the SEC. In the end, it was the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers that came out of the gauntlet that was SEC basketball during the conference tournament.

Florida has been arguably the most impressive team in basketball over the last few weeks, finishing the regular season with wins over teams like No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 7 Alabama. The Gators have upped the intensity in the SEC Tournament, though.

UF beat the No. 21 Missouri Tigers by 14 in the quarterfinals and followed that up with a 104-82 route of the No. 5 Crimson Tide in the semifinals.

Tennessee has been arguably just as impressive as of late, also picking up wins over Bama and TAMU near the end of the regular season and picking up solid wins over Texas and No. 3 Auburn during the SEC Tournament.

Prediction:
Florida 82, Tennessee 76

These are two of the best scoring defenses in the SEC. Both are nearly identical in turnover differential, and both have top three-point differentials in the SEC.

What gives Florida the edge here is its offense and its rebounding.

Tennessee holds opponents to an SEC-low 62.3 PPG, but Florida isn’t far behind as the Gators have the third-best scoring defense in the SEC, allowing just 68.6 opponent PPG.

However, on the other side of the ball, Florida has been the much more impressive team. The Gators score 84.8 PPG while shooting 47.3% from the field and 35.3% from three-point range per game.

Tennessee, on the other hand, scores just 74.8 PPG, giving the Vols a bottom-four scoring offense in the SEC.

On the glass, the Gators are also the better team, hauling in 42.1 RPG, good for second-best in the SEC. The Vols grab just 37.1 RPG, a solid number, but one that is closer to the middle of the pack in the SEC.

This will be a very tightly contested matchup, but it will be the Gators, who are maybe the most terrifying team in the SEC heading into March Madness, that will come away with the win and the SEC Championship here.