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Mike White didn’t mince words Wednesday night when asked whether his Florida team’s offensive struggles at Tennessee were caused by the Gators’ offense or the Vols’ defense.

“Oh, I would say it was mostly Tennessee’s defense,” White said moments after his team’s 62-57 loss to the 19th-ranked Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee’s defense hadn’t looked like itself the past couple of weeks, but the Vols looked like themselves on that end of the floor against the Gators.

A Florida offense that had been one of the top 40 teams nationally in efficiency was thwarted by Tennessee most of the night, and White said the Vols — led by sophomore forward Grant Williams and junior wing Admiral Schofield — deserved the credit for that.

“We tried a lot. We tried a lot against them,” White said. “They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country. They’ve got linebackers like Williams and Schofield that move like guards. They’ve got great speed and quickness in the backcourt, they’ve got great depth, they run a lot of different guys at you and they play extremely hard.

Tennessee sophomore forward Grant Williams

“They’re one of those teams that I would put in the discussion with teams that play as hard as anyone in the country.”

White said he was proud of his team for rebounding to score 39 points in the second half after scoring just 18 in a miserable first half. He said the Gators gave themselves a chance to beat the Vols in Knoxville, which is something to be proud of, but he admitted fo feeling frustration that some missed opportunities sent his team home with a loss.

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“I don’t know that we ever figured it out,” White said. “We got better looks in the second half. I thought we settled in a little bit. We knew that Tennessee would come out with incredible aggression and intensity and edge from the tip, and early on, our biggest goal was to not give up live-ball turnovers more than anything. Let’s just get shots at the rim. Let’s give ourselves an opportunity to get to the offensive glass.

“We knew how difficult Grant Williams would be to defend, and we wanted him out on the perimeter as much as possible.”

Vols coach Rick Barnes challenged Williams after the star’s disappointing performance in a loss at Georgia over the weekend, and Williams responded in a big way, scoring a game-high 23 points and making big play after big play down the stretch to keep Tennessee alone in second place in the SEC standings.

White said Tennessee’s number of options around Williams make it tough to put too much emphasis on containing the 6-foot-7 sophomore, but that Florida had no choice after Williams started taking over the game midway through the second half.

Tennessee sophomore guard Jordan Bowden

Even the added attention on Williams didn’t do much to slow him down, and White didn’t try to deny that.

“They’ve got a bunch of good players, and so our game plan wasn’t to [focus only on Williams],” said White, who has been a candidate for Tennessee’s head-coaching position on two occasions. “You want to limit his touches, you’ve got to fight for early post position, and all those things, they sound good but they’re easier said than done. He is so strong, and he’s so disciplined with his ability to post with ultimately physicality the entire game he’s on the floor. I thought he wore us down. We had planned late in the game, when he started taking the game over, to double him, and then Coach Barnes started isolating him at the free-throw line, and he did work there, as well, and punished us from that spot on the floor. He’s obviously not just a post player. He’s versatile. He’s much-improved.

“He’s incredibly strong and tough and skilled and he’s got great touch, and he makes it look easy — through contact, though fouls. He took the game over.”

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Contact Wes Rucker by email at wes.rucker@cbsinteractive.com or ON TWITTER, or FOLLOW GOVOLS247 ON FACEBOOK.