Alabama men’s basketball head coach Anthony Grant lives by telling his team to approach its schedule one game at a time. But a monumental matchup with the No. 8 Florida Gators is anything but just another game.

The Crimson Tide (19-9, 11-4 SEC) is in second place in the Southeastern Conference, trailing only the top-ranked Gators (22-5, 12-3) by one game. Alabama took care of business against Auburn with a 61-43 victory on Feb. 26, while Florida fell to a surging Tennessee team, 64-58.

ESPN’s Bracketologist Joe Lunardi moved the Tide from being one of the “next four out” to one of the “first four out” of the NCAA tournament. It’s still on the outside looking in, but Alabama is moving in the right direction.

The team continues to move up in the SEC standings. The meeting between these two teams on Saturday, March 2 in Gainesville, Fla., will be a battle for the top spot in the league.

Grant preached the importance of the game and how it will affect the Tide’s chances in the postseason.

“The next game’s the most important game on our schedule,” Grant said. “We’ve got to be locked in, ready to go. It’s not just another game, by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve got very few of them left, so this is the most important game on our schedule, and we need to treat it as such. The game’s a very big game. Period.”

If Alabama can steal a win from Florida and win its final two games of the regular season, the Tide will claim the No.1 seed in the SEC tournament and be in great shape to make the NCAA tournament.

But beating the Gators at home is easier said than done, as Florida is undefeated at home this season.

Grant knows a little about Gainesville, Fla., and being in its electric arena, though he served 10 years (1996-2006) on Billy Donovan’s staff and helped the Gators win a national championship in 2006.

Grant and Donovan are obviously close friends, but there will be no mercy when the two coaches and their teams meet on the hardwood on Saturday.

“Coach [Donovan] is one of my dear friends, and he’s done a great job,” Grant said. “He’s got a great program. I’ve got a lot of respect. But our focus is going to be to try to go win a game.”

The game will tip off at 11 a.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.

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