No. 1 Auburn suffers from the first SEC tab and loses big at home to No. 6 Florida

On By Littum

No. 1 Auburn is no longer unbeaten in SEC. The tigers went down and went hard at home to No. 6 Florida on Saturday and lost 90-81.

The victory is the first in the Gators program history over a # 1 team on the road.

The Tigers built an early 15-5 lead six minutes into the first half, but Gators then took the lead with an 18-7 race marked by a Will Richard 3-Pointer that put them on top 23-22. Auburn went back 31-25 on a miles Kelly 3 and Johni Broome Layup and looked to weather Florida’s rally. But Gators went on an increase of 23-7 over the last six minutes of half for a 48-38 lead at the break.

Florida did not go back when the second half began, and eventually extended his lead to 60-43 on a long 3 from Walter Clayton Jr. Gators eventually expanded their lead to 21 points on a 3 from Urban Klavzar. It was Auburn’s biggest deficit of the season and topped an 18-point margin at No. 5 Iowa State in November. (Tigers gathered to win that game 83-81.)

Auburn finally reduced the margin to single digits of a 3 of Kelly with 8:33 back. But Denzel Aberdeen expanded the lead back to 12 with a 3, after it appeared that Tigers’ Chad Baker-Mazara had been buried at the other end of a floor after Broome hit a short jumper. The tigers could never get closer than within nine points for the rest of the game.

Clayton scored a game-high 19 points to lead Gators and shoots 4-of-8 in 3s with six rebounds and nine assists. Alex Condon followed 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Thomas Haugh added 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Auburn was led by Kelly’s 22 points, with Broome adding 18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Tahaad PettiFord scored 14 points from the bench with Chany Johnson and added 13.

With the victory, Florida improved to 20-3 overall and 7-3 in SEC, tied with Texas A&M to third place at the conference. Auburn fell to 21-2 and 9-1 at conference. Alabama could tie them to first in the position with a win in Arkansas on Saturday night.

Next for Florida is another sec-matchup with a top 25 opponent, Sunday at No. 22 Mississippi State (16-6, 4-5). Auburn Travel to Vanderbilt (17-6, 5-5) to try to shake his first conference defeat