Gators fall in nail-biter at No. 20 Auburn, 61-58

The Florida Gators men’s basketball team (7-6, 0-1 SEC) fell in their conference opener on Wednesday night on the road at No. 20 Auburn (11-2, 1-0 SEC) by a score of 61-58.

The result marks UF’s third loss in four games and the first for Florida coach Todd Golden against his former boss, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl. Nonetheless, Golden was pleased with his team’s effort.

“If this game was on our schedule a month ago, I don’t know if we could’ve stayed in this game the way we did tonight,” Golden said following the game. “We made plenty of mistakes and things we have to correct, but the overall competitiveness, trust, teamwork of our group has gotten really, really good, and I’m really optimistic as we get into this next stretch of our schedule.”

The Gators went into the locker room at halftime with a narrow 26-23 lead after a slow start, and this one went back and forth for all 40 minutes of play. The game produced a total of 10 ties and 12 lead changes throughout the night.

Ultimately, it came down to Florida’s final offensive possession with 18.2 seconds to play. Colin Castleton lost his handle of the basketball while driving down the lane, and the game was put to rest by the Tigers’ Wendell Green, who finished with 14 points including 11 in the second half.

“Same scenario, same situation tomorrow, we’d run the same thing for Colin,” Kowacie Reeves said. “He’s our best player. We’re down one; we trust him with the ball in his hands.”

Broome wins the battle of the bigs

One of Gators Online’s keys to the game was Castleton having a big night for the Gators. He was matched up for most of the night with Johni Broome, who had his way with Florida’s veteran big man.

Castleton put up just 6 points, with four of those coming from the free throw line. He added eight rebounds, all of which came on the defensive end, as well as four blocks and four assists. Still, it wasn’t enough as he struggled with Broome.

Broome, on the other hand, matched Green with a team-high 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, with five of those coming on offense. He helped Auburn win the rebounding battle, 40-28, and the Tigers had 17 offensive rebounds compared to Florida’s five. 

“We defended well,” Reeves said. “I think our half-court defense is really good and transition is getting better. It’s just getting better at rebounding, start making a couple shots, and we’re going to be trouble.”

Other stats to know

The Gators had no starters with double digits in the scoring column while the Tigers had three. Kowacie Reeves led Florida in scoring off the bench with 15 points and Myreon Jones added 10 of his own.

Reeves has scored 12-plus points in four of the last six games, and it marked Jones’ second double-figure scoring performance of the year, matching his season high from the Florida A&M game.

If UF was going to win on Wednesday, it needed to shoot the ball well from 3-point range. Although Auburn didn’t shoot well from beyond the arc (3-for-14, 21.4 percent), neither did the Gators (3-for-19, 15.8 percent).

The opportunities were there for Florida as the Tigers struggled to close out on 3-pointers, but the shots simply did not fall for UF. Will Richard finished 0-4 from downtown and hasn’t hit a trey since Dec. 4 against Stetson, while Trey Bonham was 0-3.

The Gators will get another week of rest before getting right back into the thick of SEC play at home against Texas A&M next Wednesday night.

Stay tuned to Gators Online.