The Florida Gators dominated the Auburn Tigers by a score of 81-65 from start to finish. They didn’t give up even after the opening tip. The Gators got off to an early 9-0 lead, which swiftly expanded to a 26-9 edge in the first few minutes.
The scoreboard read 42-26 at the half, and the Gators extended their lead to 51-30 and placed the game on cruise control to end it before the Tigers had a chance to rally. The Gators played some of their most creative basketball of the season on both ends of the court, which might have been due to a number of factors.
Due to their unofficial “bye” in the schedule, the Gators had a week to prepare for this match, and they were eager to bounce back after a disappointing loss to Texas A&M.
Whatever the case, the Gators put on a strong show to win their second quadrant-1 game and improve to 16-7 overall and 6-4 in the SEC. Perhaps more importantly, though, was their impressive performance. With 15 straight road losses against the Gators, Auburn has found Gainesville to be a terrifying place.
It’s been somewhat of an up and down season for Riley Kugel but he has shown the ability to have some explosive scoring outputs and that was the case against Auburn as he led the way for the Gators with 22 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.
Auburn is full of athletes on the wing and those have been the matchups that Kugel has historically matched with well and that was the case once again and he flew around the court in transition and drilled jumpers off the dribble.
When Kugel is performing at this level, he’s among the top sixth men in the nation, and the Gators greatly benefit from the energy and shot-making ability he provides off the bench.
Kugel’s quick start from the bench virtually ensured the win, as it would have against most teams in the nation, because the starters were already playing excellent ball. Florida will be hoping that Kugel’s increasing confidence will lead to more regularity in these kinds of games; if so, beware.
Historically Auburn has been a team that’s filled with skilled guards but that isn’t how their roster is built this season and entering Saturday’s game the Gators were expected to have an edge at that position, at least on paper. Well, it wasn’t just a theoretical advantage as Florida’s backcourt trio of Walter Clayton, Zyon Pullin, and Riley Kugel combined for 61 points nearly matching the output of the entire Tigers roster.
We already talked about how Kugel came off the bench to completely overwhelm Auburn but before that happened the starting duo of Clayton and Pullin already set the tone. Clayton fueled the early Gators run with some confident threes off the dribble and Pullin later pushed the lead even further with some physical downhill drives that ended in smooth turnaround jumpers.
It was impressive how effortlessly and freely Pullin and Clayton were playing; it seemed as though they were moving to any spot on the floor at any moment they choose without even breaking a sweat. With the guards dismantling Auburn’s defense with the dribble and making the appropriate plays anytime they got the early edge, Florida scarcely needed to run any of its offensive setups.
They were having fun, yet they were still focused, and their infectious confidence shone through. Florida’s guards are among the top teams in the nation when they perform at this level, and they frequently win games in March.
