Five takeaways from Florida’s blowout home win over Auburn Tigers
Maybe it was the extra time off. Maybe it was the O-Dome. Maybe Florida is just in Auburn’s head.
Whatever the reason, Todd Golden will take it.
Florida got its second Quadrant 1 win of the season by handling Auburn, 81-65, for Florida’s 15th straight win over the Tigers in Gainesville.
And it really wasn’t that close. Florida beat a team that came in with a NET of seventh in the country.
“I’m really proud of our program,” said Florida coach Todd Golden.
The Gators are now 16-7 and 6-4 in the SEC, while Auburn drops to 19-5 and 8-3.
The Five Takeaways bring you an important win for the Florida basketball team and program on Saturday afternoon.
Do we get this Riley Kugel the rest of the way?
Kugel has been a bit of a mystery all season, preseason All-SEC but sometimes showing terrible body language. He has started to show a different level of play and Saturday was a great example of what he can be for UF.
Kugel scored a team-high 22 points and had four rebounds. He also had what would have been a SportsCenter top play with a no-look lob on an alley-oop, but there was a foul on the play.
In other words, he was back to being Riley and has been playing at a different level for a few games.
But the key was the defense
This was one of those games where the offense sparked the defense and the other way around. That’s how well Florida played even with a shaky finish.
Florida only had seven turnovers, tied for the season low in a game, and UF forced 15. The Gators also blocked six shots and won the rebounding battle.
“When we are at our best, we take care of the ball,” Golden said.
The bottom line was that Florida looked more like a Final Four team than Auburn did, but it’s a long season and home court matters.
The game went on forever
Which sometimes happens in blowout games. Florida was never threatened after taking the big lead.
Both teams shot 26 free throws, but Florida made 20 while Auburn made only 14. Part of the problem for the Tigers was that Florida kept getting stops when Auburn had hope.
But they didn’t have much. Certainly, it was better to have the midweek off than play your archrival as Auburn did.
“We had a little bit of an advantage with the bye week,” Golden said.
One team looked tired, the other energized.
The first half was a beauty
There aren’t any secrets when it comes to home-court advantage in basketball. Auburn shot 32% in the first half, made one three-point shot and missed half of its free throw attempts. So even though Florida was outrebounded in the half, the Gators led by as many as 19 and led 42-26 at the half.
Florida had only four turnovers in the half.
Of course, we had seen this before
But instead of blowing a lead, Florida expanded it. Kugel had a four-point play, the guards kept driving to the basket and Micah Handlogten was dominating on the boards.
The next thing you knew, Florida was up 29. You do that by having three guards combine for 61 points (Kugel, Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr.). You do that by getting such a big lead you don’t score a basket in the last nine minutes and still win by double digits.
“We did a great job of not being satisfied with the lead at halftime,” Golden said.
Next up
Next up for the Gators are the LSU Tigers, who come to Gainesville to take on Florida inside the O’Connell Center on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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