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Florida Gators ether No. 6 Tennessee both on and off the floor

The upset of the season in the SEC was followed by a Twitter slaying by an athletic communications staffer that must be lionized forever.

lorida Gators forward Anthony Duruji is congratulated by guard Ques Glover and teammates during the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Billy Donovan Court at Exactech Arena.  Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Gators held the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers to just 29.3% shooting and forced 18 turnovers in a shocking 75-49 win on Saturday night in Gainesville in what is the upset of the season in SEC men’s basketball.

The Volunteers (10-2, 4-2 SEC) only had one player in double figures, forward John Fulkerson. They trailed for 38:21 of 40:00 of game time, got out rebounded 44-36, and were just 3-18 from three-point range. It was a disaster from the tip-off, and turned into a laugher in the second half.

And speaking of laughs, in the wake of sports talk radio host Dan Patrick saying Tennessee’s newly-fired football coaches were paying recruits with McDonald’s bags full of cash, a sports information director somewhere needs to be nominated for an award for this final score graphic:

I’m not sure how I can keep typing with all this shade on my monitor. What an absolute savage. A tip of the cap in respect.

Four Gators ended up in double figures, led by Noah Locke’s 14 points. UF got 42 points in the paint and showed a dominant post presence for the first time since the loss of Kevontae Johnson. It’s a big win for a team that needed it to stay in any sort of NCAA Tournament contention, and might be enough to spark the Gators back into the national conversation.

But despite a blowout of a Top 10 team in the Old O’Dome, it’s possible people might be talking about the beating on social media as much as the one on Billy Donovan Court. Tennessee was a 7-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook. Whoops.