Tennessee's Grant Williams overcomes foul trouble, leads Vols over Florida

UT men's basketball team strengthens position in SEC standings after 62-57 win over Gators

Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) is defended by Florida guard Egor Koulechov and guard Jalen Hudson (3) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Crystal LoGiudice)
Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) is defended by Florida guard Egor Koulechov and guard Jalen Hudson (3) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Crystal LoGiudice)

KNOXVILLE - On a night when five of the best Tennessee men's basketball players from the 21st century were back at Thompson-Boling Arena and honored at midcourt, a present-day Volunteers star gave a raucous crowd more than just nostalgia to cheer about.

Grant Williams overcame foul trouble to help Tennessee secure key separation in the race for a double-bye in next month's Southeastern Conference tournament with a 62-57 win over Florida on Wednesday.

photo Tennessee forward Grant Williams (2) is defended by Florida guard Egor Koulechov and guard Jalen Hudson (3) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Crystal LoGiudice)

The No. 15 Vols (20-7, 10-5) won in front of a crowd of 16,016 that wasn't their largest of the season but was among the loudest.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was heavily critical of Williams after Tennessee's 73-62 loss at Georgia on Saturday, when Williams fouled out after scoring five points. Foul trouble was again a problem for Williams, but the Gators (17-11, 8-7) had no answer for Tennessee's SEC player of the year candidate.

Williams finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes as the Vols rode him down the stretch to reach the 20-win mark with three games remaining in the regular season.

"Georgia, I was kind of being passive and I was playing slow," Williams said. "I was't playing with pace like I normally do and i wasn't being aggressive. Tonight I was just saying I was going to get the ball where I wanted to get it and put the ball in the basket."

With the win, Tennessee remained in second place behind Auburn (24-4, 12-3) in the league standings. Tennessee now has a two-game lead on a pack of six teams tied for third with league records of 8-7.

After Williams picked up his third foul on Florida's first possession of the second half, he went to the bench and Florida went on a 9-0 run to cut Tennessee's lead to 34-33.

Tennessee struggled offensively until Williams returned eight minutes after exiting. He scored immediately after checking back in, and Tennessee opened up a 52-42 lead with 5:04 remaining.

Florida found its 3-point shooting stroke late, however, as leading scorer Jalen Hudson poured in all but two of his team-high 13 points in the second half to fuel Florida's effort to remain in the game.

A Williams dunk off a Jordan Bowden assist with 1:31 remaining put Tennessee ahead 59-53. A pair of Chris Chiozza buckets kept the Gators in the game in the final 90 seconds, but Tennessee iced the game at the foul line.

Williams scored 11 of Tennessee's final 16 points.

"We started trying to feed the ball more from the top, which helped," Barnes said. "Different angle putting it in there. "He started finally catching it going to the basket. That's what he did early in the year and he finally got back to it tonight."

The Vols play at Ole Miss (12-16, 5-10) on Saturday. Admiral Schofield added 16 points for Tennessee against Florida.

Former Vols Bobby Maze, Jordan McRae, Josh Richardson, Ron Slay and Chris Lofton were honored during the first media timeout Wednesday and given a standing ovation.

The moment added more energy to a crowd that was already loud after Tennessee jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

Tennessee won the opening tip, and Jordan Bone drove the basketball straight to the rim, rising to make a short floater just eight seconds into the game. The sequence was emblematic of a more aggressive style of play from Bone, who had come under fire from Barnes in recent weeks for not pushing the basketball in transition.

The sophomore's 32 minutes were his most since Jan. 2. He finished with six points and four assists.

Barnes said he challenged Bone in practice on Wednesday and that he responded well.

So did Williams, who had a talk with Barnes after the Georgia game that set the stage for Wednesday's performance.

"It was about that edge I have," Williams said of his talk with Barnes. "Because last year I think I was a lot more aggressive on the rebounding and pursuing the ball and offensive rebounds and things like that. But this year I've kind of been focused on scoring, which I can't do, because that's something I want to make my mark on is being a good rebounder and a guy that's really tough."

Williams finished with six rebounds and smiled as he said that Schofield grabbing two more rebounds "kind of made me mad."

"But I was excited to be on the glass and let the offense come to me," Williams said.

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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