Alabama Trying To Play As ‘Long As They Can’ In SEC Tournament, Beyond [VIDEO]

Alabama men’s basketball in SEC Tournament
No. 8 seed Florida vs. No. 9 seed Alabama
When: Noon
Where: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Records: Alabama 18-13, 8-10 SEC; Florida 15-16, 8-10 SEC
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 95.3 The Bear

When Alabama last defeated Florida, Anthony Grant was still an assistant coach for the Gators, who went on to win their first national championship in program history later that season.

It was 2006 then. After that championship season, Grant left to take the head coaching job at VCU before taking over the Crimson Tide in 2009. Now six years into his tenure at UA, Grant has beaten every SEC team at least once except the Gators, losing all nine of his meetings against his former team.

On Thursday, though, Grant and the Crimson Tide will again have a chance to end the streak.

At noon, Alabama will play Florida in the second round of the SEC tournament at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Despite owning a losing overall record on the season, Florida is the No. 8 seed to Alabama’s No. 9.

“We’re looking forward to our matchup with Florida,” Grant said.

Among the Crimson Tide’s 10 straight losses to the Gators under Grant, two of them came in the SEC tournament (2012, 2013).

In its lone meeting with Florida earlier this season, a Jan. 27 contest in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide fell 52-50, thanks to Dorian Finney-Smith’s go-ahead dunk with 21 seconds remaining.

Following that loss, Alabama, which had opened conference play 2-0, went 5-6 the rest of the way before Saturday’s surprise 61-60 road win at Texas A&M, a potential NCAA tournament team, in the regular season finale.

“Our league, I think, was very competitive this year,” Grant said. “ … I think we saw a lot of variety in terms of on different nights, different teams being able to step up and put themselves in position to win. I think that makes for a great tournament as we head into Nashville.”

Alabama ranks second all-time in both SEC tournament championship game appearances (13) and titles (6) but has failed to reach the final since 2002 and last won it in 1991.

The Crimson Tide, who is not considered to be in the NCAA tournament discussion, will likely only qualify if it wins the SEC tournament, an automatic berth to the Big Dance. In order to do that, Alabama would need to beat Florida, followed by a win over undefeated No. 1 Kentucky in the quarterfinals.

Regardless of potential looming opponents, though, Alabama is more concerned with just making its season last beyond Thursday.

“The motivation for us is that I think all of our guys really enjoy playing together, with each other,” Grant said. “A chance to win any time you step between the lines when you're a competitor, that's motivation enough in itself. So yeah, I think the opportunity to play again, it's the postseason, we want to continue our season for as long as we can, no matter which tournament it's in. I think that's plenty of motivation for us.”

Watch the video of Tuesday’s press conference and Chris Stewart's preview from Nashville below: