Florida Gators come up short at No. 9 Auburn
The Gators dropped their second-straight SEC matchup Saturday night at No. 9 Auburn, 85-73.
Despite losing by double digits, the score wasn’t entirely indicative of the game as Florida was able to hang strong with the best team in the SEC.
It was clear early that the Tigers were the superior squad, and it seemed they were going to run away with the game after building a 13-point first-half lead.
The Gators came out with energy in the second half and cut the deficit to 60-59, but were never able to take a lead over the final eight minutes.
Auburn is a Final Four caliber team
The Tigers had two players come off the bench and score in double digits as guard Wendell Green Jr. racked up 13 points and forward Jaylin Williams added 14 more points.
Their reserves outscored Florida’s bench, 35-9.
Auburn used 11 players Saturday compared to Florida’s nine. Although it’s a small difference, that shows the Tigers have serious depth and can win with anyone on their roster.
Moreover, they didn’t even have their best night of basketball with multiple starters in foul trouble, including forward Walker Kessler, who finished with just six points.
In the end, the Tigers simply shot the ball better as they finished 53.6 percent from the field compared to Florida’s 41.4 percent.
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Gators show they can compete at high level
Although a loss is a loss, the Gators competed with a championship-level team for 40 minutes.
Forward Colin Castleton struggled early on, but put up 17 points in the second half to finish with 22 on the night and a double-double with 10 rebounds. For a while, he was dominating Auburn’s Kessler underneath the rim, something not a lot of forwards and centers can say they’ve done.
Forward Anthony Duruji looked really good for most of the night as he finished with 14 points and hit a couple big three-pointers. Guard Myreon Jones added another 13 points and made 50 percent of his field goal attempts (5-10), including 3-7 from beyond the arc.
The Gators were able to draw foul calls (21) and force turnovers (16), but droughts stopped them from having a real opportunity to win this game.
It didn’t help that Auburn had an answer for Florida every time it found momentum. After the Tigers’ lead was cut to 60-59, they responded with a 17-4 run and UF went four minutes without a made basket.
The Gators face their third consecutive top-25 opponent Wednesday night when they host No. 21 LSU at 7 p.m.
