AUBURN, Alabama (EETV) - The Auburn Tigers continue to struggle in Gainesville, Florida as the Gators win 63-62. This marks 14-straight losses in Gainesville for the Tigers.
Auburn had a chance to edge out a win with 7.5 seconds left in regulation but couldn’t get a shot up before the clock expired.
“I was thinking they were going to overplay Wendell, throw the ball to Walker, hand it off to Wendell and let him get downhill but they kept everything in front” said head coach Bruce Pearl about the last play of the game. “If we complete that last play Walker catches it and dunks it then I look like a genius”.
The score going into the half was 22-21 Florida, neither team shot the ball well with Auburn shooting 33% while the Gators shot 26%.
Auburn’s bench which is normally the difference-maker for the Tigers only accounted for two points in the first half while Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler combined for 15 of Auburn’s 21 first-half points.
“We’re best when everyone contributes and we relied too much on Jabari tonight,” Pearl said. “Not that it wasn't smart to continue to go to him because he was able to make plays but we’re best when everybody contributes and that wasn’t the case today.”
Jabari Smith followed up his career-high game vs Vanderbilt with another high-scoring game. The freshman dropped 28 points which included him going 4-5 from three and 10-11 from the free-throw line.
The turnover woes affected Auburn for the duration of the game, turning the ball over a total of 17 times during the game leading to 17 points for the Gators.
“It was bad,” Pearl said. “If we don’t execute our half-court offense better, it’ll just limit how far we can go. Too many throw balls out of bounds, just crazy stuff. You got to be able to take care of the basketball”
Jabari wasn’t the only Tiger who shot well from the charity stripe, K.D Johnson went a perfect 6-6, four of which were within the last two minutes of the game. Overall Johnson had 11 points with four rebounds and a steal.
Walker Kessler didn’t record a single block for just the second time all season. Kessler recorded 11 points and three rebounds but was outperformed by Florida’s Colin Castleton who had 19 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a pair of steals.
Castleton wasn’t the only Gator with a big game, Tyree Appleby scored 26 points which included five three-pointers. The senior guard made all five of his last five shots and was a huge part of the Gators holding on to the win late game.
The loss cuts the Tigers SEC regular season title lead to just one game. Making every game even more important down the stretch.
The Tigers will look to bounce back this Wednesday, Feb. 23 when they play host to the Ole Miss Rebels. The game will tip-off at 7:30 PM CST. The Tigers beat Ole Miss 80-71 earlier in the season in Oxford.
