After jumping out to an early 10-point lead, the No. 1 ranked Tigers showed little resemblance of their dominant selves for most of the evening on Saturday. The Tigers turned an early 10-points lead into a disconcerting 10-point defecit entering the halftime locker room, mainly due to the calming, unbothered, star power of Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.
Clayton Jr. knocked down a game-high 3 shots from behind the arc in the first frame, adding two more from the field and the charity stripe to nearly reach his season average in points (17.4) in the first half. For as good as Clayton Jr. and the Gators were in the opening frame, Auburn was nearly just as bad. While Florida received a massive half from its star, Auburn’s National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome sunk just 3 of his 9 first half field goal attempts, largely contributing to the gap in field goal percentage between his team (47%) and Florida (57%).
Other than Broome, Miles Kelly (12 first half points) and Chaney Johnson (6 first half points) were active throughout the frame, but their contributions were mostly overshadowed by the Gators supporting staff, that entered the contest short-handed with senior guard Alijah Martin dealing with a leg injury.
Florida’s momentum continued into the second stanza, with the Gator’s quickly opening up a 54-40 lead off the back of a 29-9 extended run. Johni Broome, who briefly ended the blitzkrieg with an “and-one” layup, struggled again to find consistency on both ends of the floor. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that moment acted as more of a piece of duct tape on a ripped, four day old tent than it did a full fix.
Tahaad Pettiford, Chaney Johnson, and company showed fight on their home floor, but the immense deficit proved too monumental too overcome in a second half in which Florida responded swiftly to every miniature Tigers run. Along with Clayton Jr. (19 points), Alex Condon (17 points, 10 rebounds ), Will Richard (12 points), and Thomas Haugh (14 points, 9 rebounds) all provided timely makes to make sure the Gators retained the lead.
Auburn’s (9-point) loss was not only its worst of the season, but first in SEC play as well. While games like this are almost guaranteed to occur in what has become the best conference in college basketball, it was slightly disheartening to see Bruce Pearl’s squad get dismantled on its home floor. The Tigers won’t have much time to mourn the loss, as they are right back in action on Tuesday night in Nashville against Vanderbilt. A date with No. 3 ranked Alabama awaits in Coleman Colusium a week from today.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: No. 1 Auburn suffers first defeat of SEC slate, falls to No. 6 Florida
