Gators Tame No. 1 Tigers in the Jungle

The No. 6 Florida Gators have defeated the AP No. 1 team for the second time in 32 days.

Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) drives the ball as Auburn Tigers take on Florida Gators at Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Florida Gators lead Auburn Tigers 48-38 at halftime. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 6 Florida Gators men’s basketball team on Saturday walked into Neville Arena and came out with a dominant 90-81 upset win over the No. 1 Auburn Tigers. 

Florida becomes just the fifth team to ever beat the AP No. 1 at home and away in the same season and fifth team to ever beat the No. 1 team twice in the same season in general. Furthermore, this is the Gators first ever win over the No. 1 team on the road after being 0-7 in previous situations. 

Much of the credit goes to Walter Clayton Jr., Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. Clayton Jr. finished with 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds and played all 40 minutes. Condon ended with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while Haugh logged 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks off the bench.

Clayton Jr. sparks a dominant first half from Florida

It was all Auburn to start the afternoon.

The Tigers began hot on offense and strong on defense, resulting in an early 12-5 lead heading into the first media timeout. In these first five minutes of the game, the Gators were 2-for-9 while the Tigers were 5-for-9. 

Things continued this way into the second media timeout as well. 

However, the Gators three-point offense came alive after the 12-minute media break. Behind 3-pointers from Urban Klavzar, Sam Alexis and Will Richard, Florida was able to take a 23-22 lead with 8:29 remaining in the first half. 

Auburn would retake the lead shortly after this, though, but that doesn’t mean the Gators stopped throwing their own punches. The Florida offense combined with their defense to go on a 9-0 run to take a 34-31 lead over their opponents. 

Then, Florida’s Clayton Jr. was able to push this advantage to six points behind some fantastic shot making from himself. 

This spark from Clayton Jr. managed to rub off on the rest of the team as well, as they extended their lead to 10 at the final buzzer of the first half. After these first 20 minutes, the Gators led Auburn 48-38. 

Florida found a second wave of energy following the opening stretch of the game and they used it to go on a 23-7 run to close the half. The first half performance from the Gators was about as good as it gets. They were 16-for-28 from the field overall and 7-for-13 from deep. Additionally, they made nine of their 11 free throw attempts.

Now, Florida did have some turnover problems, finishing this first half with seven of them, but these turnovers didn’t come back to haunt them. 

As for the individual aspect, Clayton Jr. had 16 first-half points and only missed one out of his six, a 3-point try. The other standouts in the half were Thomas Haugh – 10 points, four rebounds and one assist – and Alex Condon – five points, four rebounds and three assists.  

Auburn battles back, but the visitors hold strong

While the halftime break could have caused the Gators to come out cold, that is the complete opposite. The Gators offense continued to hum, and the Tigers had no response to it. In the first four minutes coming out of half, the Gators added on to their lead and put the score at 60-43. 

How they got there was maybe even more impressive than the lead itself.

Facing some full court pressure, Clayton Jr., a former high school quarterback, made a full-court dime to Condon. After reeling in the pass, the Aussie fought through some contact for the and-one layup. Clayton Jr. followed that up by blocking a layup from the Tigers and nailing a quick 3-pointer on the other end. 

Once again, it was Clayton Jr.’s infectious energy that gave the Gators a boost. 

Not too much later, Klavzar silenced the crowd even more by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to put his team up 21 points with around 13 minutes left. 

Auburn did have some fight in them still, though, going on a 6-0 run and forcing a timeout from the Gators. They used this run to swing the momentum their way, snowballing it all the way to a nine-point game with 8:16 left. 

The Gators' glue guy, Haugh, was able to calm things down for them. Off a missed 3-pointer from Clayton Jr., he soared in for the offensive rebound and tipped it out to Denzel Aberdeen, who nailed the wide-open 3-pointer that put the lead at 12 for the Gators with 7:08 remaining. 

This wasn’t the last 3-pointer for the Gators offense, though. Having just eclipsed the three-minute mark, Clayton Jr. found Aberdeen wide open in the corner for another that gave the Gators an 87-71 lead. 

Although the Tigers did make it interesting late, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Gators, as Florida wound up winning 90-81. Florida improves to 20-3 and 7-3 in the conference while Auburn is handed just their second loss of the season and their first conference loss of the year. 

Up Next

After securing this big-time road win, the Gators now travel to Starkville, Miss., to face off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday. The contest between the two is set for a 7 p.m. EST tip off and is scheduled to be televised on ESPN2.