Gators Fall Short of Inspired Upset Over Auburn, Drop SEC Opener 61-58

Despite an inspired performance that tested the No. 20 Auburn Tigers, the Gators failed to execute their upset bid.

The mentor edged out the mentee in the first matchup between Todd Golden and Bruce Pearl.

The No. 20 Auburn Tigers overcame an inspired Gators squad on Wednesday night to hand Florida its sixth loss of the year, 61-58.

With the contest on the line with under 20 seconds remaining, the Florida Gators called a timeout to draw up a final scoring option to potentially take a one-point lead on the Tigers. Inbounding the ball following the brief break, Florida played down the clock to ten seconds before it started to operate in its set.

Setting up a top-of-the-key entry pass to Colin Castleton, Florida looked for a would-be give-and-go from guard Kyle Lofton that turned into a drive from the Gators' big man if Lofton was covered. However, as Castleton turned to attack the basket, an Auburn defender poked the ball free on his dribble into the hands of his teammate. 

The Gators were unable to get a shot off.

The Tigers took off in the opposing direction to put in a game-sealing layup. However, Lofton's full-court heave fell short and effectively ended the Gators' upset bid. It's the Gators' fifth loss to a power-six opponent this season.

UF held tight with the Tigers throughout the contest, matching the suffocating defensive effort of Bruce Pearl's squad on the opposing end.

Inciting a defensively oriented affair that saw both teams shoot below 37% in the first half from the start of the contest, both squads played with impressive activity on the opposing team's end of the floor. Creating deflections by eliminating passing lanes and contesting shots at the rim, the units showed similar strengths of making offense hard to come by.

Florida forced Auburn into 12 first-half turnovers and accounted for four blocks to create possessions amid another poor shooting night.

Despite the lopsided rebounding margin — getting out-boarded 22-to-15 throughout the first 20 minutes and 40-to-28 overall — the Gators used a late surge of turning defense into offense to hold a three-point lead heading into the halftime break. Myreon Jones led all scorers with seven points at the half and added two steals to give Florida that promising lead. 

To open the second half, the Gators — after missing an opportunity to extend their lead with a turnover on the inbound — got Castleton involved with an alley-oop from Lofton from the top of the key toward the left side of the rim. That was his first bucket from the floor of the contest.

Wendell Green Jr. found his groove after a scoreless 19 minutes and 57 seconds in the first half to give the Tigers more offensive production than it realized previously.

Not only did he knock down multiple triples to keep Auburn in the mix, but he forced two fouls on Gators guard Trey Bonham on shots from beyond the arc to come away with five points on six attempts from the charity stripe. The Detroit, Mich., native compiled 12 of 14 points for the Tigers following a buzzer-beater triple to end the first half.

However, as the Tigers looked to pull away themselves, the Gators consistently found ways to silence The Jungle and overcome the brief spurts Auburn usually uses to overpower their opponents.

Florida did this mainly by attacking the rim on the offensive end, as Kowacie Reeves Jr. and Alex Fudge produced numerous emphatic slams to kill any momentum from AU.

Defense ➡️ offense @bonham_trey with the steal ➡️ @wacie_wacie with the slam 🔥
📺 https://t.co/MiDvSKOPYM#GoGators pic.twitter.com/otUGXiyUQD

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) December 29, 2022

Reeves was able to produce at all three levels for the Gators to sustain enough offense to stay even with Auburn — which saw a drastic uptick in shooting the basketball in the second half at 48.1% from the floor compared to 28.6% in the first — for the majority of the contest. He had a game-high 15 points on 50% from the floor.

Jones complemented Reeves with 10 points on an off night for the Gators' usual leading scorers. Castleton finished with six points and Will Richard failed to record a bucket despite multiple open-shot opportunities (0-for-5 from the field). 

Down the stretch of the contest, Florida looked as if it had the capacity to keep the Tigers at an arm's distance as it built a four-point lead at 54-50 with under five minutes left. But, Auburn continued to answer with a powerful bucket from forward Jaylin Williams in the lane and an Allen Flanigan steal and slam.

That tied the game for the ninth time to set up an eventful final four minutes.

The back-and-forth continued, with Auburn and Florida continuing to trade leads. With under a minute remaining, UF trailed by one point to the hosts.

Fudge forced a steal with 25 seconds remaining to give the Gators one final chance to overcome the Tigers, but a Castleton turnover squandered Florida's opportunity to execute the upset.

Florida falls to 7-6 on the year despite the inspired performance on the road.

The Gators will return home in 2023 to take on the team that eliminated them from the SEC Tournament a season ago as Buzz Williams leads Texas A&M into town.

That contest will tip off on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m. ET inside Exactech Arena.

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