Count Ole Miss coach Chris Beard as someone who believes No. 5 Florida basketball deserves a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Shortly after Beard's Rebels lost 90-71 to the Florida Gators (27-4, 14-4 SEC), the second-year Ole Miss coach, who guided Texas Tech to the NCAA Finals in 2019, said UF belongs as one of the tournament's top four overall seeds.

"It's a really good roster build, a really good team," Beard said. "In my opinion, they should be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They're deserving of that."

Florida was last a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2014, a season that ended with UF reaching the Final Four for the fifth time in program history before falling to eventual national champion UConn in the tournament semifinals.

Senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. led UF with 23 points and eight assists in the win for UF, with sophomore forward Alex Condon adding 15 points and 15 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. Florida outrebounded Ole Miss 48-36 and outscored the Rebels 19-11 in second chance points.

"They basically have four guards who can dribble pass and shoot and often play-make enough," Beard said. "They have an NBA point guard in Clayton and then the bigs just come in swarms and they do a great job of a four-man rotation and keeping guys fresh so they can rim run, seal. So, they're just a really talented team."

Florida has won nine of its last 10 games and as the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament will open SEC Tournament play on Friday at 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.