Florida Gators
Auburn
No. 2 Florida Men Defeat Auburn in Basketball Action
Sunday, January 15, 2006 | Men's Basketball
The No. 2 Florida men's basketball team took down a feisty Auburn squad, 69-57, on Saturday night at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for its 16th consecutive win. The victory propelled the Gators' unblemished record to 16-0 overall and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Tigers fell to 8-6 and 0-3 in league action. The Orange and Blue were led by sophomore Taurean Green (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), who finished with 21 points, including a 12-for-12 effort from the charity stripe. Green also paced the Gators with five assists and chipped in four rebounds, two steals and one block.
Sophomores Al Horford (Puerto Plata, D.R.) and Joakim Noah (New York, N.Y.) also scored in double figures for UF, as Horford notched 14 points and seven rebounds, while Noah totaled 10 points and grabbed eight boards. Noah and Horford combined to amass seven of Florida's 10 blocked shots, with four and three, respectively.
Junior Lee Humphrey (Maryville, Tenn.) went 3-for-9 from three-point range, accounting for his nine points for the night. Sophomore Corey Brewer (Portland, Tenn.) added eight to the Gator point total, and also grabbed two rebounds, blocked two shots and had one each in the steal and assist columns. Junior Chris Richard (Lakeland, Fla.) rounded out UF's scorers with seven points, all scored within a minute and a half in the second frame, which helped the Gators build their winning point margin.
The back-and-forth first half opened with an 8-0 run by the Gators, but a scoring drought allowed the Tigers to take an 11-10 lead at the 14:38 mark. The two teams traded shots from that point on and the on target behind-the-arc shooting of Green and Humphrey kept Florida close as Green sank 3-of-7 and Humphrey hit 2-of-5 first-half treys. A lay-up by Horford with one second remaining in the half allowed Billy Donovan's team to take a 34-33 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, UF increased its lead to 39-33 at the 17:18 mark before the Tigers mounted a comeback. The Gators again pushed their lead to up to a seven-point margin, but once again Auburn battled back and brought the game within two at 49-47 with 12:14 remaining to play. UF took control in the following minutes, steadily building its lead to win the contest, 69-57, in front of a sold-out crowd of 11,953 frenzied fans.
Sophomore Frank Tolbert led the Tigers in scoring with 21 points and also added five rebounds and four steals to his effort. The Gators took advantage of 23 Auburn turnovers to score 20 points, and defeated the Tigers for the seventh time in as many meetings. Florida continued its trend of not allowing an opponent to shoot 50 percent this season, as the Tigers shot 41.8 percent from the field and 47.1 from three-point range. Although UF was 39.6 percent from the field, it connected on 7-of-21 attempts from behind the arc.
The Gators take the court again on Wednesday night in their final non-conference game of the season when Savannah State visits the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for a 7 p.m. contest.
-UF-
