Gators coach Mike White thought his team was on the turnaround.
It forced an excellent Kentucky team to play nearly perfect basketball in the final minutes to escape an upset bid in Gainesville, and Florida held on for a hard-fought overtime victory over Ole Miss in the game prior.
That turnaround is in serious jeopardy after UF fell to the Tigers 76-62 at Auburn Arena in Auburn, Alabama, on Tuesday night. Florida was competitive in all but one of its losses going into the game, the exception being an 81-60 drubbing at the hands of Florida State in the season opener. Against the Tigers, however, White’s squad played from behind for all but nearly four minutes.
The Gators (12-10, 4-5 SEC) traded the lead with Auburn five times in the first five minutes of the game. Florida hit six of its first eight shots but committed three turnovers in that stretch. It became a theme for the Gators throughout the first half as they totaled nine giveaways in the first 20 minutes. Despite shooting 56 percent before the break to Auburn’s 46 percent, the Tigers (16-6, 5-4 SEC) took advantage of UF’s mistakes.
“Seventeen turnovers at Auburn. No. 1 in the country at turning you over,” White said in a release. “Could talk about it until we were blue in the face…(Auburn) has elite team speed. Active hands.”
Florida was in reach of Auburn when the score was 20-17, but a subsequent 10-2 AU run and 3:54 Gators scoring drought gave the Tigers the momentum.
Florida narrowed that gap thanks to Noah Locke, who scored 10 in the first half. Auburn didn’t score in the final 2:21 of the period, and a tough drive for a layup from KeVaughn Allen as time expired cut the Gators’ halftime deficit to six.
The Tigers’ lackadaisical play came to an end in the second half, though. Their shots started falling, and they quickly pushed the lead to double digits. Auburn shot 10-of-15 to begin the period and led by as many as 18 points. UF, on the other hand, couldn’t replicate its shooting success from the first half, making only 36 percent in the second. Locke failed to score in the second period.
The Gators cut that lead back down to 10, but never got within striking range in the defeat, and Auburn pulled away again for a 14-point victory.
AU leading scorer Bryce Brown was one of three Tigers players who scored in double digits (14 points), along with Samir Doughty (12) and Chuma Okeke (11).
UF has three days to recover from the road loss before facing arguably its toughest challenge of the season: The No. 1-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. The Gators will hope to avoid their third-straight loss in Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday.
“Good teams execute the important things,” White said. “This current Gator team doesn’t do that very well.”
Follow Tyler Nettuno on Twitter @TylerNettuno and contact him at tnettuno@alligator.org
The Gators turned the ball over 17 times during their 76-62 loss to Auburn on Tuesday. "Could talk about it until we were blue in the face...Auburn has elite team speed. Active hands," coach Mike White said.
