Despite Miles Kelly scoring a season-high 22 points and Johni Broome notching his 74th career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, No. 1 Auburn fell 90-81 to No. 6 Florida on Saturday, largely due to the Gators’ dominant guard play.
“We'll start off by congratulating Florida on a great, great victory, great game plan. I thought them being down (Alijah) Martin, they really rallied. And (Walker) Clayton Jr. was tremendous,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
A late second half effort wasn’t enough as the Tigers tried to fight their way back from a 21-point deficit with time dwindling away. Kelly – who leads the Tigers in 3-pointers made on the season – knocked down a second chance corner three to cut the Gators’ lead to single digits.
“I knew we were going to keep fighting. We haven't been down a lot this season, so I knew just seeing that, us responding to being down and just continuing to fight, it's a great sign. Like I said, tomorrow we've got to get back to practice, watch film and learn from it,” Kelly said.
The Gators had an answer for every Auburn make down the stretch, putting up 90 points against one of the nation’s most efficient defensive squads. It was the most points Auburn allowed on its home court since the 2021 season against Georgia.
“I think Clayton (Jr.) went off a little bit in the first half and gave his guys confidence. Ultimately we impacted ball screens and got the ball out of his hands, but other guys made shots,” Kelly said.
Clayton Jr. tallied 13 points during a 14-5 Florida run in the first half behind three 3-pointers, and was the catalyst behind a barrage of threes from the Gators – the most 3-pointers (13) the Tigers have allowed this season. He finished his night with 19 points and nine assists.
“Our game plan defensively was to try to get the ball out of his hands. And after the first couple possessions, you would never know that that was our game plan. We did it for the first couple of possessions and then we stopped doing it,” Pearl said.
Coming into the matchup as the fourth-best team nationally averaging 17.5 fastbreak points per game, the Gators outran Auburn with a +11 advantage in fastbreak points, along with with 22 assists – 13 against Purdue was the most given up until Saturday.
“They did a great job of making plays out of their ball screen. They did a great job of throwing it out of their ball screen. They were properly spaced. We had a game plan that we thought was going to be effective. It wasn’t. We kept on trying to get the guys to execute that game plan instead of maybe we could have made some adjustments. But the way they played out of the ball screen and shared the ball and spaced, and they banged a bunch of shots," Pearl said.
The loss ended Auburn's 14-game winning streak, the second-longest in the nation, and snapped its status as the only undefeated team in conference play.
“They played better,” Pearl said. “They played more desperately. We did not look like the number one team in the country. We didn't act like the number one team in the country. We didn't prepare like it. And as a result, we got beat.”
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Logan Fowler is a Senior from Sumiton, Alabama and is majoring in journalism. He joined the Plainsman in Spring 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @loganffowler
