Florida’s Joakim Noah celebrates following the Gators’ 49-47 victory over South Carolina in the championship game of the SEC tournament at Nashville on Sunday.

NASHVILLE — If the South Carolina Gamecocks had missed their flight back to Columbia, no one should have been surprised. They missed almost everything else in the SEC tournament championship game Sunday at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The Gamecocks (18-15) shot only 30 percent from the field and missed out on an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Florida Gators claimed their second consecutive conference tournament championship in a 49-47 game that was ugly from the first air-ball to the last.

In the understatement of the tournament, South Carolina coach Dave Odom said: "Well, I couldn’t say that was a championship-caliber game in terms of being played really well, beautiful to watch."

Florida guard Taurean Green was the tournament Most Valuable Player. Never mind that he made only four of 11 field-goal attempts Sunday or that his last shot — with 1:02 to play — missed so badly, you might have thought it was taken by a Gamecock. You didn’t have to be accurate to be an MVP on this afternoon.

Nor did you have to be accurate to make the all-tournament team, which South Carolina guard Tre Kelley did after making four of 17 field-goal attempts against the Gators.

Florida (27-6) didn’t just take advantage of South Carolina’s misses. It capitalized on a miss of its own.

With the game tied, Florida’s Corey Brewer missed a baseline jump shot, but Joakim Noah tipped in the winning shot with 10 seconds to play.

The Gamecocks followed up their misses with more misses.

They made 37 percent of their shots in the second half. That was their good half.

They missed 21 of their first 24 shots. They missed their first 13 3-point attempts. They missed 42 of 60 shots overall and 21 of 27 3s.

They missed and missed and missed. And they still had a chance to upset the Gators on their last possession of the game.

Then, they missed again. And again.

First, Kelley missed a 3-pointer with four seconds to play that would have beaten the Gators. Then, Renaldo Balkman’s follow-up shot was blocked by Noah.

Neither shot even hit the rim. It was an ending worthy of the beginning.

Florida, which made two more field goals on 19 fewer shots, was led by Brewer, who had a game-high 16 points. Noah, who had 10 points, was the only other Gator in double figures.

Kelley, Balkman and Tarence Kinsey each scored 12 points for South Carolina. But Kelley and Kinsey combined to make only eight of 31 shots.

"I cannot remember the last game that I’ve been in of this magnitude where a team shot so poorly early on," Odom said. "And, you know, I told our team at halftime, ‘I don’t believe in the first half we took a bad shot.’ "

Imagine that. Even a coach would admit this was more about bad offense than great defense.

The other coach, Florida’s Billy Donovan, just sounded grateful.

"I mean, to win a championship game not even to get 50 points is truly remarkable," he said. "We’re fortunate to win. I’m proud of all these kids, and we’ll have to move on to the next thing after we find where we’re going (in the NCAA tournament)."

Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, they’re returning to the NIT, which they won last year but is not a title you aspire to defend. After entering the SEC tournament as the fifth seed from the East, South Carolina won three consecutive games and managed back-to-back upsets against Tennessee and Kentucky.

Despite playing a fourth game in four days, the Gamecocks didn’t seem any more fatigued than the Gators, who drew a first-round tournament bye.

South Carolina had the legs to win the tournament. Only its shooting hands looked tired.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.