Florida and BYU tipped off this tournament with a double overtime barn burner, but unfortunately for the SEC the Cougars pulled it out 99-92.

It was an uptempo game of runs. Florida got out to a 28-21 lead in the first half, but the Gators didn't make a field goal in the final seven minutes to allow BYU to go on a 14-5 run to close out the period. BYU was the hot team in the second half, leading by as much as 10. Florida stormed back thanks to heroics from Kenny Boynton. Florida had the final possession in both regulation and overtime, but it came up empty both times. Boynton fouled out early in the second overtime, and UF just ran out of gas from there.

BYU's Jimmer Fredette lived up to the hype, scoring 37 points to lead all scorers. Michael Loyd was the real difference maker for the Cougars though, surpassing his season average by 22 points with 26 on the game. Boynton had 26 for the Gators, who also saw strong efforts from Chandler Parsons (20 and 10) and Vernon Macklin (16 and 7).