A scuffle broke out in the handshake line following an SEC basketball game between Florida and Tennessee on Wednesday night.
Things started to get out of hand shortly after the No. 18 Volunteers closed out a 78-71 win on their home floor. As the two teams got together for a customary handshake, players started to exchange words from a distance
The situation quickly began to escalate and the altercation nearly turned physical. As the Tennessee players tried to wave Florida into the locker room, some Gators players had to be held back, including senior Tyree Appleby.
Eventually the two teams were separated, but the Volunteers still didn’t let things die down completely. As both groups left the court, many Tennessee players started to do the “Gator Chomp” in the direction of Florida’s team, clearly mocking their conference rivals.
Take a look,
Things got quite heated in the postgame handshake line between Tennessee and Florida. pic.twitter.com/eoHPaEGGQ9
— Karthik Venkataraman (@KarthikV_) January 27, 2022
“>via Karthik Venkataraman:
It’s clear that there’s no love lost between these two conference foes. Thankfully, officials, coaches and other players were able to get the situation under control before anything more serious happened.
On the court, Florida and Tennessee put on quite the spectacle. The Volunteers stormed back from a 42-34 halftime deficit to come out on top in a pivotal SEC matchup. Junior guard Santiago Vescovi led the way with 23 points as Tennessee improved to 14-5 on the year.
Florida fell to 12-8 and 3-5 in the SEC with the loss.