AUBURN – No. 1 Auburn was stunned in a 90-81 loss on its home court to No. 6 Florida on Saturday.
It’s the first loss in Neville Arena for the Tigers in 357 days, ending a 14-game winning streak.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Florida goes unconscious
All was well in front of a sold out crowd of 9,121 as Auburn got out to a 10-point lead within the first six minutes of play as five different Tigers chipped in a basket along the way.
Florida then picked up its first lead at the 8:38 mark in the first half as it went on a 12-2 run hitting six of its last seven shots. Miles Kelly poured in back-to-back threes after a Denver Jones layup to ignite a 9-4 Auburn run.
Just over a minute later, the Gators seized a lead they never gave up, closing the first half on a 14-5 run to take a 48-38 advantage into the locker room – the second-highest first half point total Auburn has allowed this season.
A late second half effort cut Florida’s 21-point lead back to single digits, but the Gators’ hot shooting was a trend that continued throughout the remainder of the half.
The Gators ended their night shooting 48% from the field, 38% (13-of-33)from 3-point land.
Walter Clayton, Jr. the catalyst, others follow suit
The first half especially was controlled by the Gators’ prolific point guard Walter Clayton, Jr. as he tallied 16 first half points with three 3-pointers. Thomas Haugh joined him in double digits in the first half, but the second half saw two other Gators reach the double-digit threshold, as Will Richard, Denzel Aberdeen and Alex Condon all notched double digits.
Clayton Jr. finished with 19 points, Condon with 17, Haugh with 16, Richard with 12 and Aberdeen with 10.
Kelly and Broome’s efforts not enough
Miles Kelly had his best night of the season, posting a game-high 22 points in 35 minutes of action and Johni Broome, though he went 8-of-19 from the field, tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds – his 74th career double-double.
Tahaad Pettiford and Chaney Johnson joined them in double digits with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Free throws and fastbreak points
Auburn tied one of the best rebounding teams in the nation – third nationally with 43.5 boards a game and fifth nationally in offensive rebounds with 14.7 – 40-40, outscored the Gators in the paint by eight points and scored 22 second chance points to Florida’s 15. Not to mention, Auburn turned the Gators over 12 times.
But Florida did what it does in transition as the fourth-best team nationally, averaging 17.5 fastbreak points per game, and outran Auburn to a +11 advantage in fastbreak points. Additionally, the Gators - who entered hitting just 71% of their shots from the free throw line – ended the night on an 83% clip from the line, going 15-of-18.
Auburn is back in action on Tuesday as it travels to Memorial Gymnasium to take on Vanderbilt. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on SECN.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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