NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When they last met two months ago, Florida let Missouri come into Exactech Arena and hit shots, including 10 from 3-point range, dictate tempo, jump to a hugh lead and eventually hand the Gators their only loss on the home court this season. 

In Friday night’s rematch, it was UF that took command from the start, shot lights-out for the better part of the game, but had enough lapses with ball security and rebounding for things to get a little dicey deep into the second half. Eventually, though, the Gators did things that teams highly ranked teams who aspire to be No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds are supposed to do. 

They put the Tigers away. 

The senior guard trio of Walter Clayton Jr. Alijah Martin and Will Richard combined for 52 points, including eight 3-pointers, to lead fourth-ranked and second-seeded UF to a 95-81 victory over Mizzou in their quarterfinal matchup in the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. For the Gators (28-4) make that four straight wins, 10 of the last 11, and a berth in the tourney semifinals Saturday afternoon against fifth-ranked and third-seeded Alabama (25-7), which smashed No. 15 Kentucky 99-70 in the late evening quarter. 

The win further padded UF in its quest to lock down one of the four No. 1 seeds in next week’s NCAA Tournament. Only one power conference team (Duke) has more victories than the Gators’ 28. 

“They’re a 1-seed in my eyes,” Mizzou coach Dennis Gates said afterward. “They obviously played like it.”

Kind of. Clayton led the way with 18 points and six assists, but also had five of his team’s 16 turnovers against a gambling perimeter defense that led the league in steals during the regular season. 

“It wasn’t as much them as it was us, especially me. I take a lot of blame for that,” Clayton said of the giveaways that made a night when his team shot 61.8 percent from the floor (nearly 81 percent from the 2-point area) and dished 20 assists a little too uncomfortable after halftime. “We got sped up a little bit rather than playing fast, which is our pace, but not too fast.” 

Together, they figured things out. Martin and Richard each scored 17 points, while sophomore backup forward Thomas Haugh came off the bench to tally 16 points, including 10-for-12 from the free-throw line, seven rebounds, five assists and looked more the part of the SEC Sixth Man of the Year than Mizzou counterpart Caleb Grill, who won the award earlier this week and finished with 11 points and one rebound Friday.

UF sophomore forward Alex Condon had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks. 

“Obviously, a couple areas we weren’t at our best,” UF coach Todd Golden said after his team got out-worked 18-9 on the offensive glass, leading to 20 second-chance points for the Tigers. “But we did a lot of great things, as well.” 

Like defend. Mizzou (22-11), which is headed to the NCAA Tournament, was limited to 44.1 percent for the game (four percentage points below its average) and just four 3s (five below their average) on 16 attempts. In the first meeting, an 83-82 win on Jan. 14, the Tigers dropped 11 3s (six by Grill), including seven in the first half when they raced to a 19-point lead. 

This time, it was Florida owning the first half. The Gators scored the game’s first 10 points, eight of them by Richard, including a pair of 3s. UF built a 14-point cushion, had it trimmed in half, but then got back out by 13, for a 50-37 lead at the break, thanks in great part to 7-for-14 shooting from distance, and despite nine turnovers.

“We came out and tried to be aggressive,” Richard said. 

Missouri was without forward and scoring leader Mark Mitchell, who was injured in Thursday night’s second-round win over Mississippi State. The Tigers did not go quietly, however, with 14 of their 15 players who took the floor getting in the scoring column, led by guard Tamar Bates’ 16 points.

A 10-2 Tigers run early in the second half made it a six-point game. After Martin drove for a layup, Mizzou scored another five straight points – hitting their fourth and fifth consecutive field goals – and the Florida lead was 64-60 with 13 minutes to go and some angst in the orange and blue rooting section.

Florida led 70-64 when center Peyton Marshall stepped to the free throw line for two shots. He missed both. Martin then scored back-to-back buckets, the second an alley-oop throw-down on a nice feed from Richard in transition, to go up 10. The Tigers got it down to five, 75-70, with seven minutes remaining, mostly by crashing the glass. 

The next three minutes were all Gators, with a lot of Condon, whose dunk started a 10-2 run where he accounted for six points. Haugh, meanwhile, went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to help close things out. 

Haugh is now at 81.2 percent from the line on the season – his 112 attempts rank second on the team – after shooting 46.7 as a freshman last season. 

“It was an emphasis for me last summer,” Haugh said. 

Now Haugh and his teammates might want to emphasize a couple other critical areas.

“Big picture-wise, getting back on the glass, taking care of the ball,” Golden said. “It’s what we need to do if we want to make a deep run.”

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu