On a last-second defensive stand, Florida held on to hand Auburn its third loss of the season and second loss in conference play in a contest that came down to the last possession and resulted in a 63-62 Florida victory.
“We didn’t play well enough to win tonight. Give Florida credit, they made really big shots at the end,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “Our second-half defense wasn't as good as the first half, and we relied on Jabari too much tonight. … We play our best when everyone contributes, and that wasn’t the case tonight.”
After Jabari Smith splashed a 3-ball for Auburn to start its scoring effort, it had trouble finding the basket early in the first half.
The Tigers started the game cold from the floor, converting on just 3-of-15 shot attempts, and they got no opportunities at the free-throw line in the first eight minutes.
Auburn continued to struggle in the game, as Florida’s Myreon Jones’ 3-pointer fell with four minutes left and sent the crowd into a frenzy. This forced Pearl to call a timeout. Things looked dry for Auburn, who at the time found themselves on a drought that lasted nearly three minutes.
Smith was determined to put that drought to an end. As soon as the timeout ended, he stormed down the court and deposited his second 3-pointer of the game.
Building on their momentum, the Tigers fought back to make it a one-point game, holding a 22-21 lead entering halftime. The half ended on a 7-0 scoring run for the Tigers and a four-minute scoring drought for the Gators.
In the first half, the Gators' Colin Castleton followed up on a strong showing against the Tigers earlier in the season. After his 22-point performance against Auburn in January, he went 3-for-4 from the floor with 10 points and five rebounds in the first half.
However, Auburn’s star of the first matchup between the two squads came out cold. K.D. Johnson, who tallied 23 points in his first matchup with Florida, had a rough start to the game that put him at 0-for-3 shooting and four turnovers. He made his last two shots, giving him four points to work with going into the break.
Auburn broke out of the gates in the second half, going on an 8-0 scoring run. The run forced Florida head coach Mike White to call a timeout after a 3-pointer from Smith capped off the run to give Auburn a 29-24 lead with 17:43 left in the contest.
Jabari Smith (10) takes the first of a pair of free throws during a match between Auburn and Florida in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Feb, 19, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.
Auburn maintained its second-half lead for over 10 minutes before the Gators put things together.
Then, Florida launched its long-ball party, resulting in a 7-for-13 shooting line from 3-point-land.
Four of the Gators' 3-pointers came courtesy of guard Tyree Appleby. He looked like he couldn’t miss, and Auburn was left scrambling to stop him.
When the Tigers tried to key in on Appleby, Philandous Fleming Jr. drilled a 3-pointer for the Gators, putting the lead back in their possession 48-46 with 7:38 remaining in the contest.
From there, Florida knocked another 3 to put the Gators up by five before Wendell Green Jr. hit Walker Kessler for a slam dunk on the other end to quiet the crowd a bit and make it a 56-53 Florida advantage with 3:13 on the clock.
In the final minutes, Johnson got hot and recorded six points, and Auburn made seven straight free throws to bring it to a one-point deficit.
After a timeout with seven seconds on the clock, Auburn retained possession of the ball.
Green dribbled the ball down the floor and attempted a pass down by the goal to Kessler, but the Gators’ Castleton deflected it as time expired. Florida earned its victory over No. 2-ranked Auburn.
“The play was to get Wendell [Green] downhill. They covered it pretty well. We got an attempt to get it to him, but it just didn’t work out,” Smith said.
Appleby led the movement for the Gators, as he buried five 3-pointers in the second half. He put up 20 points in the second half to push his team to a win and lead the Gators' scoring effort, with 26 points on a 7-for-15 shooting performance.
“Appleby and Jones were two guys we didn’t want shooting the ball,” Pearl said. “We were supposed to be pressing Appleby, and we didn’t.”
Smith led the way for Auburn, with 28 points and seven rebounds. This follows up on his season-high 31-point performance against Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
In the matchup of the two team-block leaders in the SEC, blocks were a rarity. Florida tallied just four blocks, but Auburn only managed two, neither of which were by Kessler, the nation’s block leader.
Kessler, who was held to seven points in Auburn's first game versus Florida, met his match again against the Gators today. Castleton has proven to be Kessler’s toughest match-up, as he held the 7-foot-1 center to 11 points and just three rebounds.
Castleton followed Appleby to be the team’s second-leading scorer with 19 points. He added eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
The Tigers turned the ball over 17 times, compared to Florida’s 11 turnovers.
Auburn assistant coach Steven Pearl yells for his team to rebound from the sidelines during a match between Auburn and Florida in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Feb. 19, 2022, in Gainesville, Fla.
"Yeah, it was bad. I mean, we just didn't pass it very well. Sloppy. We didn't execute. And if we don't execute in our half-court offense better, it'll just limit how far we can go,” Pearl said. “You know, just too many balls thrown out of bounds, just crazy stuff. You've got to be able to take care of the basketball.”
Auburn continues to struggle early on the road, consistently finding itself in a hole late in games. Notably, Auburn has seemed to start slowly on offense.
“Obviously, let's say, you play Florida the first time, and you do certain things — well, you've got to do some other things the next time you play them,” Pearl said. “Unfortunately, we weren't just very sharp in our execution. That trickled over into our play because not enough guys contributed."
This has been the case in the Tigers' last two losses.
“We always end up trying to fight back, but we got to figure out how to start better on the road," Smith said. "I feel like that will help us late."
This marks Florida’s 14th straight win in Gainesville against Auburn. The Gators improve to 17-10, while the Tigers fall to 24-3 and 12-2 in SEC play.
“We showed a lot of character putting ourselves in position to win late, but we didn’t finish,” Pearl said.
With Kentucky’s win today, Auburn holds onto a one-game lead atop the SEC.
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