Language class is called to order. Tennessee basketball needs a few synonyms for bad.

Inferior, defective, faulty, inadequate and unsatisfactory will do.

Enough already. We don’t need disappointing or awful.

The big, bold Florida Gators, confident at their house, were 91-67 better than the Volunteers on Saturday. The difference was shocking. Speaking of synonyms, it was also stunning.

Rick Barnes conceded that Florida certainly won the game.

“They kicked our butt. That’s all I can tell you. And that’s disappointing.”

The coach thought his team contributed self-destruction.

“Turnovers. Decisions. You look at 30 points off 18 turnovers, you don’t have a chance.”

Barnes said it was a good game, a close game, the kind of game he expected until the last four minutes of the first half. It was tied at 26 with 3:40 remaining. Florida closed on a 15-2 run.

“Just really poor basketball. And I’ll take the blame for it, because I don’t know if I’ve had a team play that bad and do the things … the decisions … It was just really poor basketball. And that’s on me.”

Florida outscored the Vols 50-39 in the second half. Check that score carefully. The UT defense gave up half a hundred in a half.

Jaylen Carey prior to the game at Florida

Florida was the more physical team. Several times determined Gators simply muscled the ball away from Volunteers. Florida won the rebound battle by 11. It had a big edge in second-chance points. It beat Tennessee at Tennessee’s game, points in the paint. It had twice as many fast-break points.

The winners had an assortment of stars. Guard Boogie Fland, transfer from Arkansas, had a breakout game – 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting (3-of-6 on threes), four steals, three rebounds and four assists.

Center Reuben Chinvelu scored 17 and missed but four shots. His 16 rebounds were six more than the combined total of Tennessee’s four post players.

“Terrific, as good a performance as I’ve seen in a long time,” said Barnes. “Totally dominated the game from an inside perspective … he was terrific. I mean, he was terrific.”

Florida coach Todd Golden said amen.

“Rue had 16 rebounds. Felix Okpara had one.”

Urban Klavzar scored 15. Alex Condon had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Considering the competition, Tennessee freshman Nate Ament had an excellent start and a productive game. He opened with a three from the wing and added a 12-foot jumper. He made four free throws. That gave him nine points at intermission.

Despite foul troubles, he battled, finished with 17, missed but one free throw, got four rebounds and was charged with just two turnovers.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Jaylen Carey scored 12 each. Neither shot accurately. DeWayne Brown scored 10 but missed all three free throws. Tennessee missed 10 of 29.

Alas, there were leaders in negative numbers. Bishop Boswell had six turnovers and didn’t have a chance to get seven. He didn’t play in the last 17:35. Gillespie had four even though Boswell was the point guard for much of the first half.

Barnes noted that part of the cost for 18 turnovers was Florida got 15 more field-goal attempts. The winners hit 48.4 percent. The losers made 42.4.

Barnes noticed what Golden said, that Okpara played 26:43 minutes and got only one rebound.

Golden said he was “really, really happy” with his team but had warm, friendly words about Tennessee.

“We admire Tennessee. Since Coach Barnes has been there, I think of them as probably the toughest program in the league. And we’re constantly competing to have that title. We talked to our club a lot about it over the last couple days, that this was a great challenge to see who could be the mentally and physically tougher team. Tennessee is fantastic. But we played really well.”

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com