The Auburn Tigers will be traveling to Gainesville, Florida, as they look to close out their regular season in a positive fashion as the Tigers take on Florida on Sunday.
The Tigers will look to end their season on a high note after back-to-back wins against Texas A&M and Mississippi State, both games taking place at Neville Arena. The Tigers dominated both games as they won 57-41 against the Aggies and 77-60 against the Bulldogs. These two wins helped improve Auburn’s record to 18-10 while its SEC record sits at 7-8.
The Florida Gators will head into this game wanting to end their season with a win, getting rid of their current losing streak. In the past week, the Gators played the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide, losing both games away from home. While the Gators have struggled finding wins this season in the SEC, they will look to end the season with one when they take on the Tigers in Gainesville.
This matchup has no dominant team, the Tigers hold a historic advantage with 23 wins, only one win more than the Gators. However, the Tigers don’t do so well when it comes to playing the Gators away from home considering their 7-12 away record.
In the last matchup between the Tigers and the Gators, the Tigers came out on top 66-55 on Jan. 30, 2023. The Gators hadn’t lost to the Tigers since 2019 before then, a run that is tied for their longest winning streak against Auburn.
A win would be crucial for Auburn as it hopes to get into the top half of the standings, gaining an advantage for the upcoming SEC Tournament.
Auburn is averaging 66.9 points a game, the third lowest in the SEC. It has only exceeded this average once in the last four games, but the defense has helped cover up this low-scoring offense. Defensively, the Tigers excel, holding their opposition to a very low 57.6 points per game. This defense puts them in the top 50 for lowest opposition points per game in the NCAA.
Auburn’s offensive struggles stem from a lack of contributors. Graduate student guard Honesty Scott-Grayson is the main offensive weapon that the Tigers boast as she is currently averaging 18.4 points per game. Scott-Grayson is the second highest scorer in the SEC, only second behind LSU’s Angel Reese. Auburn’s second-highest contributor is graduate student guard JaMya Mingo-Young, who is only averaging 9.2 points per game.
The Florida Gators are a much higher scoring team, averaging 76 points per game but allow 71.2 opposition points per game. The Gators have the second-best offense in the SEC and a top-35 offense in the NCAA.
In that high scoring offense, senior guard Aliyah Matharu is the highest contributor with 18.1 points per game, she is the third-highest scorer in the SEC. Senior guard Leilani Correa follows her as the fourth-highest scorer in the SEC with an average of 17.7 points per game. Continuing to add a double-digit average is Ra Shaya Kyle, a senior center who is averaging 12.4 points per game for Florida.
An Auburn win would increase its record to 8-8, giving them a better chance at being in the top half of the seeding for the SEC Tournament. A Florida win would put the Gators at 6-10, a record that would help them climb above Texas A&M and Arkansas depending on other results in the conference.
The Auburn Tigers will tip off their regular season finale against the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday, March 3 at 11 a.m. CST on SEC Network.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
Hector Hernandez is a freshman from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in building science. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
