A shot at revenge is on the line when the Auburn Tigers (9-13, 1-10 SEC) host the No. 19 Florida Gators (18-6, 8-3 SEC,) who visit Auburn Arena for a rematch on Monday. The first go-around resulted in a narrow win for Florida on Jan. 13.
In that game just over a month ago, Auburn fell in Gainesville 68-63 after its two leading scorers, Aicha Coulibaly and Honesty Scott-Grayson, fouled out in the final minutes.
Coulibaly was the main source of scoring in the contest with 24 points. Without her, the team struggled to score, and thus was not able to sink a key bucket in crunch time.
Florida cruised to the final buzzer, ending the game on an 8-0 scoring run. Kiara Smith, fourth in the SEC in assists and steals, torched Auburn for a team-leading 19 points and three assists en route to the victory.
Although the Tigers are currently on a three-game losing streak, they have dropped the last two in highly competitive affairs. The games versus Mississippi State and Arkansas were decided by five and two points, respectively. In the 11 games for Auburn that have been won by single-digit margins, the Tigers are 3-8.
Trouble scoring outside of leading scorer Coulibaly, who ranks fourth in the SEC with 18.2 points per game, has caused problems for the Tigers when trying to close out games this season.
Most recently, the team fell in a heartbreaker at Arkansas 68-66 on Thursday. The Hogs completed a comeback by sinking a shot and leaving 0.4 seconds on the clock.
However, Auburn found scoring away from just Coulibaly, who was the team’s third leading scorer with 12 points, in that contest. Scott-Grayson led the way for Auburn with 23 points, and Jala Jordan followed her with 13 points in her starting role.
Auburn’s limited production off the bench is another troublesome area for Auburn. The bench only accounted for nine points on just 10 shots against Arkansas, compared to the 16 shot attempts by Coulibaly.
The Tigers hope to return to their form when they took down then-No. 4 Tennessee. Four different players scored in double figures, and they put up 71 total. The team has not reached 70 points since then. It is 7-0 when putting 70 or more on the board.
On the other hand, Florida is coming in hot. It has come out on top in its last three contests against Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi State. The last team to beat them was No. 1 South Carolina in January.
Florida is 5-2 in road games this season, and won its previous two affairs away from home. The Gators finish up their three-game road trip on the Plains before returning home on Thursday to face Auburn’s last opponent, Arkansas.
In its most recent matchup, Florida bested Mississippi State 73-64 behind a 21-point performance from Zippy Broughton. The senior guard from Wetumpka, Alabama, added seven rebounds and four assists, while converting on 3-of-6 3-pointers.
Broughton averages 9.1 points a game, but has scored in double figures in the Florida’s last seven games, dating back to her four-point game against Auburn in the first go-around.
The Gators score 68.5 points per game, 5.5 more than the 63 Auburn allows per match. They are 11th in the conference in scoring, while the Tigers rank 13th with 64.6 points a contest.
Florida takes advantage of free throw opportunities. It sits atop the SEC with a 73.4% shooting percentage from the charity stripe. Auburn needs to limit Florida’s chances at the stripe to have a good chance in the game.
From beyond the arch, the Gators rank eighth in the SEC in 3-point percentage, but a key to victory for them is hitting more 3-pointers than their opponent. They average 5.3 made shots from deep each game, and limit opponents to four makes in each outing. When they match their average in 3-point field goals, they have gone 9-3.
Auburn seeks its second SEC win in the rematch between the Gators and Tigers that is set to tip off at 6 p.m. CST on Monday. The game can be seen on SEC Network.
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