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With under a minute to play and a one-point lead, the eyes of Gator Nation rested anxiously on Tre Mann. Mann dribbled to his right, stepped back, and threw up a jumper from just under twenty feet.

Swish.

Mann took control late as the Gators staved off Vanderbilt, 69-63, to move ahead to the second round of the SEC Tournament and set a Tennessee rematch Friday.

For the opening eight minutes, the story of the game centered around who wasn’t on the court. Scottie Lewis and Tyree Appleby, two consistent starts for the Gators, found themselves on the bench at tip-off after they reportedly showed up late to team walkthrough.

Without Lewis and Appleby on the floor, freshman Samson Ruzhentsez saw his first career start, but he failed to impress in his debut. The Russian scored just two points on 1-5 shooting, failing to connect on any of his four three-point attempts.

After a slow start, Florida seemed to take command for the third time in three contests against the Commodores this season. Noah Locke buried a trio of threes as the Gators went to the locker room with a 34-22 lead. Vanderbilt was ice-cold from the floor in the opening twenty minutes, shooting just 8-25 from the floor and making just three three-pointers in 15 attempts.

The second half was an entirely different story for the Commodores. They stormed out of the gate on an 8-2 run and carried the momentum across the final twenty minutes. After just 22 points in the first half, Vanderbilt scored 33 points in under 12 minutes to take its first lead in 25 minutes of game time. After leading by 12 in the locker room, Florida found itself huddled in a timeout and trailing 55-54 with 8:39 to play.

The closing minutes were a back and forth battle, with neither team able to take control. Florida turned the ball over four consecutive possessions at one point in the final minutes, but Vanderbilt didn’t score on any of the possessions they earned to keep the Gators in a near-deadlock.

But the Gators refused to surrender the game, and Mann came up huge again and again down the stretch to take control. Mann scored 22 points for the game, seven of which after Vanderbilt retook the lead including the jumper to ice the game. He finished with seven rebounds and six assists.

Vanderbilt didn’t score after the Mann dagger and, three Florida free throws later, the Gators walked away with a six-point victory. A one-possession win over a 13-seed in the conference may not inspire confidence, but it ensures Florida will survive another day in the final tournament before March Madness.

Florida and Tennessee will tip off around 2:30 p.m. Friday.