NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points and the fourth-ranked Florida men's basketball team won its fifth Southeastern Conference tournament title and first since 2014, beating the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers 86-77 on Sunday.
The Gators (30-4) lost in this game a year ago. This time, they made sure to finish their 12th appearance in the championship game, adding another title to the list that started with three straight from 2005-07.
Will Richard added 17 points for Florida, while Alex Condon had 13, Thomas Haugh had 11 and Alijah Martin had 10.
"I came here because I believed in that vision," Clayton said of winning titles at Florida. "See it come to fruition, it actually happening, is great."
Fourth-seeded Tennessee (27-7) goes home still looking for its first title in this event since 2022. The Vols have five SEC championships, but dropped to 1-3 under coach Rick Barnes in the Vols' fourth final in the past seven tournaments.
The 86 points allowed by the Vols marks the most they've given up in a game this season. And it's just the second time all season they allowed a team to top 80 (the other was an 85-82 win over Missouri in the regular season).
"When we are playing like this," Golden said, "I think we are the best team in America."
Jordan Gainey led the Vols with a career-high 24 points. Zakai Zeigler had 23 and Chaz Lanier added 11 before fouling out.
These teams split during the season with each winning in routs defending their home courts. The Vols had enough fans that this felt like a home court. Yet they led only briefly; their last lead came less than two minutes in at 6-5.
Florida took over from there. The Gators jumped out to a 34-22 lead and took a 39-30 edge into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating deep 3 from Denzel Aberdeen. Tennessee never got closer than five in the second half.
The Gators have played a program-record seven games this season with both teams ranked in the top 10. They now are 5-2 in those games after going 6-16 entering this season.
"Cutting down the nets is a great feeling," Richard said. "But we want to be able to do that in the NCAA tournament as well."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.