Scouting report, prediction for Florida basketball vs Alabama in SEC Tournament

Florida basketball picked up its first SEC Tournament win since 2021 late Thursday, holding off Georgia 85-80 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

The task will get much tougher when the 6-seed Florida Gators (22-10) meet the 3-seed Alabama Crimson Tide (21-10) in Friday night's quarterfinals (9:30 p.m., SEC Network).

"Tournament time, neutral sites, our first time in this building with a short warm-up, I thought under the circumstances we performed relatively well," Florida basketball coach Todd Golden said. "I'm really excited for this contest (Friday) night against Alabama."

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Florida hasn't reached the SEC Tournament semifinals since 2019, and hasn't won an SEC Tournament since 2014, the last year the Gators reached the Final Four.

Golden said some tournament jitters may have played into a lackluster first half against Georgia in which the Gators trailed 37-34. Florida shot just 41.9 percent from the field in the first half and went 4-for-13 from the foul line.

"We're amped up to play in this setting, which, we want to be that way," Golden said. "But we're making uncharacteristic mistakes, not just keeping it simple and letting the game come to us that way."

Florida is 1-1 against Alabama this season. UF followed up a 98-93 overtime loss at Alabama on Feb. 21 with a 105-87 win against the Crimson Tide at home on March 5.

Here are three storylines to watch for UF's matchup with Alabama on Friday:

Can UF basketball replicate its rebounding effort vs. Alabama?

Florida outrebounded Georgia 52-36, grabbing 12 of its 16 offensive rebounds in the second half. The Gators are going to need a similar effort to pull off a win over Alabama. The Tide outrebounded Florida 54-44 in their home win. In UF's win over Alabama in Gainesville, the rebounding margin was even at 40-40, though UF was aggressive on its missed shots with 12 offensive rebounds.

"Rebounding was the emphasis this week," said Florida forward Tyrese Samuel, who posted his 11th double-double of the season with 17 points and 15 rebounds against Georgia on Thursday. "We worked on it a lot. I think, like, coming into the second half, it was really important 'cause especially for the bigs, nothing was really falling for us close to the rim. I feel like us rebounding helped us get our mojo back."

Which backcourt will have the bigger game, UF basketball or Alabama?

Florida got a combined 50 points from guards Walter Clayton Jr. (22 points), Will Richard (17 points) and Zyon Pullin (11 points) against Georgia, though Pullin battled foul trouble before fouling out with 2:08 remaining.

Alabama's backcourt is led by Mark Sears, the SEC's leading scorer at 21.2 points per game who is as quick with the ball in his hands as Clayton and Pullin. Sears scored 33 points in the teams' second matchup, although the majority of those came in the second half after Florida built a big lead.

Aaron Estrada (13.3 ppg) is another capable backcourt scorer for Alabama and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (9.1 ppg, 44.5 percent from 3-point range) is healthy after dealing with a head injury late in the regular season. Wrightsell didn't play in Alabama's first matchup with UF and appeared for just seven minutes in the second meeting, scoring 2 points.

Can UF's basketball bench step up and give its starters relief?

Pullin played just 28 minutes against Georgia due to foul trouble, so he should be fresh for Alabama. The same can't be said for Clayton (33 minutes) or Richard (37 points). Florida got 18 points from its bench on Thursday against Georgia, with freshman forward Alex Condon scoring 10 points and sophomore guard Riley Kugel scoring eight points, including six straight clutch free throws down the stretch. The Gators may need as much if not more bench production to pull off the win over the higher-seeded Crimson Tide.

Prediction

Alabama 88, Florida 80: It will be another track meet, but Alabama will find a way to pull away in the second half and advance to the semifinals. Florida got to the foul line 46 times in its last meeting against Alabama and converted 40 at the O'Connell Center. It would be hard to expect the same home cooking on a neutral floor in Nashville.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators basketball vs Alabama scouting report, prediction