Auburn students spent four days and four nights camped out on the grounds adjacent to Neville Arena in order to make sure they got a good seat for Saturday night’s tilt against the Gator basketball team.
Why not? They had the #1 team in the nation, after all. And sitting pretty at 21-1, Auburn fans have their sights on championships.
Maybe they can still get there. But Todd Golden’s Gator basketball team took them down a peg on Saturday, leaving them trudging back to their dorms with a feeling of something less than the invincibility they had all week– and much of the year. Meanwhile, Florida reminded the college basketball world not to hand Auburn any sort of trophy just yet, as there are other suitors lurking out there.
The Gator basketball program came into this game with an 0-7 record on the road against the #1 team in the AP Poll, but removed that blemish from its record with perhaps the greatest regular season victory in school history, a 90-81 triumph over Auburn that was more dominant than the final score indicated. It’s the second time this year that Florida has slayed the #1 team in the country, a few weeks after sledgehammering Tennessee by 30 points in the O’Dome. And they did it all without one of their best players.
No Alijah Martin? No problem. His teammates more than picked up the slack around him. Walter Clayton led the way with 19, Alex Condon chipped in 17, and Thomas Haugh finished with 16. Florida also got ten more from Denzel Aberdeen, twelve more from Will Richard, and a hat trick of threes from the Slovenian-born Urban Klavzar.
Along the way, the Gators owned the boards, and controlled the game with some plays that won’t show up in the stat sheet. In particular, Thomas Haugh made sure Auburn felt his presence down the stretch.
First, the Pennsylvania native grabbed not one but two offensive rebounds to give the Gators a third chance on offense on two different possessions– the second of which felt like the beginning of the end for Auburn. Later, with a minute and change remaining, Haugh stripped a driving Tahaad Pettiford trying to cut into the 88-78 Florida lead, creating a turnover. Moments later– perhaps quite fittingly– Haugh was fed by a cutting Condon for a bunny layup to put the game out of reach.
The Gators’ big win is even more impressive than it seems on the surface given how the game started.
Early on, the 9.5 point Auburn spread looked justified, with the Tigers climbing to a 15-5 lead and forcing Will Richard to sit with foul trouble.
But then Thomas Haugh made a nice cut for an easy two to kick-start the Florida offense, and back came the Gators. Florida ripped off a 43-23 rampage from that moment until the end of the first half, taking the lead for good on a logo three from Walter Clayton to cap a wild sequence late in the first half. The Gators picked up right where they left off in the second half, too, with Reuben Chinyelu putting Dylan Cardwell on a poster to assure the viewers that Auburn would not be climbing back into this one.
The lead would reach 21, and would hang around in the high teens for most of the second half as Florida kept delivering haymakers. Auburn drew within nine a couple of times midway through the second half, but Florida answered each time– once with Will Richard hitting a pair of free throws and the second time with Denzel Aberdeen burying a three. And that was that.
Miles Kelly put in 22 and Johni Broome added 18 for Auburn, but they couldn’t match the frenetic pace of the Gators, who snapped Auburn’s 14-game winning streak and handed the Tigers their first loss on their home floor in nearly one full calendar year. Aside from their pride, the loss doesn’t do much to hurt Auburn, which still controls its destiny to win the SEC as well as lock down a Regional 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But on the flip side, what a game-changing win this is for Florida. The SEC may still be out of reach for the Gators even with this win, but those four available Regional 1-seeds are still very much up for grabs. And if Florida can surpass Auburn in the eyes of the NCAA Selection Committee, the Gators can earn the right to play their NCAA Tournament games in Raleigh and Atlanta, friendly locations in which Gator fans are sure to show up. That’s what’s left to play for in this regular season.
And “what’s left to play for in this regular season” is a conversation we’re having because Florida looked very much like a national championship team. Auburn has shown the college basketball world time and again that they belong in those conversations, but the Gator basketball team just forced its way into them by standing toe-to-toe and slugging it out with Auburn both in terms of physicality and overall execution. Auburn is known for its explosive offense, and Florida simply beat them at their own game.
The Tigers’ vaunted flex cuts got them some points, and they forced 12 Florida turnovers, but Florida simply hit more shots– including 13 threes. For all its physicality, Auburn’s defense couldn’t keep up with Florida’s ball movement, and routinely either left the ball or left one of the Gator guards wide open for uncontested threes. When the Gators did miss, there was Haugh or Condon, standing by to grab the rebound and give the Gator offense the chance to reset and try again. And given second chances, the Gators usually took advantage.
At this point, the Gator basketball team has more or less completed its NCAA Tournament resume. Barring the unthinkable– like losing to an atrocious South Carolina team in Gainesville, or a complete collapse down the stretch– Florida is pretty much set as either a 1-seed or a 2-seed in the Big Dance. The goal now is to just keep getting better, work on their free throws and breaking the press, and then hope to play their postseason games close to home.
As for the rest of us watching?
Just sit back, and enjoy the ride. We’ve got a special team here.
