SEC TOURNAMENT

It was the type of domination that basketball fans had become accustomed to seeing from the Gators in the first couple of months of the season, but hadn’t seen much of lately. The extended break that came between the end of the regular season and Friday’s game because of a “double-bye” seemed to get Florida back on track.

“We had a few days to practice and get better on some things,” said coach Billy Donovan, who has led the Gators to two national championships, the last one coming in Atlanta in 2007. “And certainly for the first time in a long time I think we’ve got our full complement of players back healthy. I think that time from Sunday ‘til Thursday served our team well. Give our guys credit. They came out focused and ready to play.”

The Gators (25-6) will face Alabama in the tournament semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday. The fourth-seeded Crimson Tide (21-11) dispatched Tennessee 58-48 on Friday afternoon. Florida beat Alabama 64-52 on March 2.

Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Ole Miss battled Friday night to fill the spots in the other semifinal.

Kentucky (21-11), the defending national champions, lost to 10th-seeded Vanderbilt (16-16) 64-48 in Friday night’s first quarterfinal game. The Commodores knocked off Arkansas 75-72 on Thursday. That effectively relegates the Razorbacks (19-13) to the NIT.

Missouri (23-9) defeated Texas A&M 62-50 on Thursday night to set up a quarterfinal matchup against third-seeded Ole Miss (23-8) late Friday night.

Atlanta plays host to the Final Four for the third time in the past 11 years at the Georgia Dome on April 6-8. Of the teams that played in Friday’s SEC quarterfinals here at Bridgestone Arena, only Florida looks to be a serious contender to reach Atlanta. And even the Gators’ prospects for going deep in NCAA tournament are being treated with considerable skepticism.

Cynics cite that the Gators lost three of their previous six games before coming to Nashville. But that was more like a 400-meter sprinter pulling up shy of the finish line when he has smoked the field. Florida still won the SEC regular-season title by two games, and the Gators did it while overcoming a slew of injuries.

Michael Frazier missed a game with a concussion and was affected by the injury well after. Erik Murphy has played with bruised ribs for weeks. Casey Prather is coming off a high-ankle sprain.

Those three players combined for 40 points and 21 rebounds in Friday’s win. Murphy led the way with 27 points and 12 rebounds, and the Gators, led by Murphy’s 5-for-7 outing, shot 55 percent from 3-point range.

The 6-foot-10 Murphy is obviously a key to Florida’s success.

“If you’re going to put a smaller guy on him, we can hit him down inside,” Donovan said. “He can post and finish over or around. And then when he’s on the perimeter and bigger guys are chasing him, he can be effective shooting (3-point shots).”

Meanwhile, the SEC’s best defensive team held LSU to 33 percent shooting. Shavon Coleman, Johnny O’Bryant and Andre Stringer, who combined to score 52 points in Thursday’s win over Georgia, managed only 20 against the Gators.

“I think Florida is one of the better defensive teams in the country,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “They do a great job of rotating and helping. They’re long and have quickness with their size. They can make it difficult for you.”

Other than Florida, there doesn’t seem to be an SEC team with the ability to win four NCAA tournament games and reach Atlanta. As it is, only Missouri appeared to be in position to land an at-large bid based on its work coming into the tournament.

There’s such across-the-board uncertainty with regard to postseason within the league that it inspired Yahoo Sports columnist Pat Forde to call this year’s conference tournament the “Festival of Desperate Basketball.”

The Gators, however, are anything but desperate. Having won the school’s sixth regular-season SEC title — and fifth under Donovan — they appear to be peaking at just the right time. And it’s not by accident.

Players described the practices of the past week as some of the most intense they’ve had all year. It nearly took its toll as Murphy slightly injured a knee in practice Wednesday and for a short time was thought to be in jeopardy for Friday’s game. An MRI revealed no damage and he felt fine Friday.

“Obviously we want to win the tournament,” Murphy said, meaning the SEC’s, not the NCAA’s. “But we’ve got to take it one game at a time. Now it’s time for the next game, the next opponent.”