With 22 points from Riley Kugel and 20 from Walter Clayton Jr., the Gators defeated No. 12 Auburn 81-65 on Saturday to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.
Florida (16-7, 6-4) won its second Quad 1 game in two weeks and increased its winning streak at home over the Tigers (19-5, 8-3) to 15. This one arrived in exquisite style.
For once, Florida never let up and dominated the game from the first tip. This season, coach Todd Golden’s squad has lost three games (against Wake Forest, Texas A&M, and Kentucky) despite holding leads at halftime and blowing sizable leads before rallying late last month to defeat Georgia and Mississippi State.
“To step on their neck and kind of put them in the ground, we needed that as a team,” Clayton stated. “Now we know we can do it and we’ve got to keep on doing it.”
The Gators’ most comprehensive performance of the season, which saw them lead by as many as 29 points in the second half, ought to be sufficient to take Florida out of the figurative NCAA bubble once and for all.
“To step on their neck and kind of put them in the ground, we needed that as a team,” Clayton stated. “Now we know we can do it and we’ve got to keep on doing it.”
The Gators’ most comprehensive performance of the season, which saw them lead by as many as 29 points in the second half, ought to be sufficient to take Florida out of the figurative NCAA bubble once and for all.
“We’re a lock, the biggest lock in the world after today,” said Golden. “We simply need to choose between donning those roadies and white home shirts throughout the opening round. Really, though, we’re in a wonderful position at the moment.
As soon as things start going well for us, they might rapidly turn bad if we neglect our business. We are by no means satisfied.”
The Gators, who shot 40% from the field and made 7 of 21 three-pointers, were led by 19 points from Zyon Pullin.
Thanks primarily to guard play, Florida scored the opening nine points of the game and took a 17-point lead halfway through the first half. Pullin, Kugel, and Clayton proved to be difficult for
Bruce Pearl, the coach of Auburn, stated, “Florida’s guards are really good, like really good, as good as anybody’s guards.” “I don’t think they’re going to lose many of those matchups.”
With Johni Broome, the Tigers appeared to have an advantage in the paint, but that never happened. With 16 points per game, Broome leads Auburn in scoring. He ended with 12 points and seven rebounds. With ten seconds left, he had only five points and had missed seven of the eight free throws.
For the Tigers, K.D. Johnson added 12 points as well. The previous time Auburn triumphed at Gainesville, in 1996, they missed 14 out of 17 attempts from beyond the arc.
“I’m suffering because of my first two years at Tennessee.” Pearl, who lost to the Florida Gators 3-9 in Gainesville, stated, “I actually defeated the two-time national champion Florida Gators three out of four times.” That isn’t discussed, so I have to bring it up occasionally.
