What do you do when you surprise the college basketball world with an upset over a top-10 Tennessee team? For Florida, its answer Tuesday night was much like the rest of the sports world all week: You pile on to Tennessee football's no good, very bad week.
After the Gators demolished the No. 6 Volunteers 75-49 they took to Twitter to release a final score graphic with a three-word caption that read: "We're lovin' it" capped with a smirk emoji. The caption is a not-so-subtle nod to McDonald's slogan after allegations were reported earlier in the day by Dan Patrick that Tennessee's football program was nefariously recruiting by handing recruits cash in McDonald's bags when they visited campus. (Tennessee fired coach Jeremy Pruitt and nine staff members on Monday amid an internal probe into recruiting violations.)
We're lovin' it 😏#GatorsHoop pic.twitter.com/4Ljt99E4SA
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 20, 2021
The only thing more impressive than the tweet might've been the game that preceded it. The Gators nearly led wire to wire over a Tennessee team that at times has looked like the SEC's best, trailing only 12 total seconds of game action. And they took it to the Vols in dominant fashion in Gainesville, Florida, without third-leading scorer Scottie Lewis and second-leading scorer Colin Castleton. Keyontae Johnson also did not play as he continues to recover from an on-court collapse from December.
Florida has a way of demolishing good opponents under Mike White, sometimes surprisingly, but Tuesday's result may take the cake. Its 26 point blowout is the biggest win over a top-10 opponent under White, with three other wins by 17 or more points coming since he took over the program in 2015. It's fitting and funny that to celebrate that accomplishment and the unlikely win, Florida rolled out an all-time Twitter troll job of Tennessee's football program.
