FLORIDA at AUBURN
When: Tuesday, 9 p.m. (EST)
Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, Ala.
Records: Florida (12-9, 4-4); Auburn (15-6, 4-4)
TV: ESPNU (
Roy Philpott and
Daymeon Fishback)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (
Mick Hubert and
Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
Auburn Arena (capacity 9,121) opened in 2010 and Florida has won all four trips to the venue.
They're more dire for Florida than Auburn, to be sure. Though the two teams have the same break-even records through eight league games, UF doesn't pass the postseason eye test right now, what with the losses piling up on one of the most difficult schedules in the country; one that is about to get even harder The Gators had a three-game Southeastern Conference winning streak snapped Saturday by No. 7 Kentucky, 65-54, whereas Auburn destroyed rival Alabama, 84-63, for a second straight league win after dropping three in a row. ... Though unranked Auburn checks in at No. 21 in the NET system that will seed the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers will be the eighth opponent Florida has faced ranked in the top 50. Florida, which is No. 40 in the NET, is 1-7 in those so-called "Quadrant 1" games. ... The Tigers lead the all-time series 87-79, but the Gators have made a ton of headway on that record with 11 straight victories. ... The two teams last met Feb. 24, 2018 in Gainesville, where UF defeated No. 10 Auburn 72-66 behind 24 points from
KeVaughn Allen, including a 75-foot prayer the junior guard threw in at the halftime buzzer. UF also got 19 points from
Jalen Hudson, plus 12 points and six rebounds in a career game from backup redshirt freshman forward
Dontay Bassett, as the Gators snapped a three-game SEC losing streak and started a three-game winning streak of league opponents bound for NCAA play. ... UF is 3-0 vs. Auburn under Coach
Mike White.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
| Auburn |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Per Game |
| Chuma Okeke |
F |
6-8 |
230 |
Sophomore |
10.5 pts / 6.3 reb / 2.2 ast |
| Anfernee McLemore |
F |
6-7 |
220 |
Junior |
7.1 pts / 4.5 reb |
| Bryce Brown |
G |
6-3 |
198 |
Senior |
17.1 pts / 2.3 reb |
| Samir Doughty |
G |
6-4 |
195 |
Junior |
8.1pts / 3.7 reb |
| Jared Harper |
PG |
5-11 |
175 |
Junior |
15.5 pts / 6.4 ast |
STANDING OUT (One to Watch)
Senior shooting guard Bryce Brown is one of the hottest players in the SEC, maybe in all of college basketball. The 6-foot-3, 198-pounder from Stone Mountain, Ga., is the Tigers' leading scorer and has made 28 of his last 51 shots from the 3-point arc over the last seven games. That's nearly 55 percent. Auburn went just 4-3 in those games, but one of those losses was against Kentucky. In that one, Brown was 8-for-9 from the floor, 6-7 from the arc and 6-6 from the free-throw line for 28 points. Last year, Brown was a first-team All-SEC selection and became the 36th player in school history to reach 1,000 points before the end of his third season, as he led the league in 3s per game at 3.2. This season, he's hit double figures in all but three games, including the last nine. Given how the Tigers get out in transition, spread the floor and shoot without conscious (and remind their opponents about it), he's a perfect fit for their style of play.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard has scored 12 points in each of the Gators' previous two games, just one off his career-high of 13.
ABOUT THE GATORS: After having their defensive hands full with the league's No. 4 scoring team (84.4 ppg), the Gators now face the SEC's No. 2 scoring team and maybe the best 3-point shooting squad they'll face all season. How that equates for a UF offense ranked next-to-last in the league in scoring (69.0 ppg) will determine the outcome. UF has faced some high-scoring opponents thus far and held them to numbers considerably lower their season averages, and that will again have to be the case. Florida
Kevarrius Hayes
cannot expect to go to Auburn and score with the Tigers. Obviously. ... Point guard
Andrew Nembhard, who led UF in scoring for the first time this season with 12 points against Kentucky, will have to be ultra-efficient (and aware) against an Auburn defense that thrives on turnovers and transition offense. ... Florida's top two scorers, guards
KeVaughn Allen and
Noah Locke, together account for nearly half of the team's scoring in SEC games (32.4 points of the team's 68.5), which made their combined 7-for-27 shooting performance against the Wildcats a huge key in the loss. If Allen and Locke are struggling to put the ball in the hole, where else is the offense going to come from? ... Fifth-year senior and backup wing
Jalen Hudson (6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg) had a decent outing against UK, in hitting four of his eight field-goal tries on the way to 11 points. ... Florida is also getting more on both ends from forward
Keyontae Johnson, who had career highs in points (15) against Ole Miss last week and rebounds (10) against Kentucky. ... The post trio of starter
Kevarrius Hayes and backups
Dontay Bassett and
Isaiah Stokes combined for four points and five rebounds over 40 minutes in facing the much bigger and longer Wildcats. Hayes accounted for all those numbers. ... Bench production has been an issue for the Gators of late, what with Stokes,
Deaundrae Ballard and
Mike Okauru accounting for four points, two rebounds, five turnovers and six fouls over 38 minutes the last two games. ...
ABOUT THE TIGERS: They're in the fifth season under
Bruce Pearl, who is 85-68 in that time, but guided Auburn to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 15 years and the program to a share of its first SEC regular-season title since 1999. Pearl's teams, whether his league-championship teams at Tennessee or Wisconsin-Milwaukee before
Jared Harper
that, have always had the reputation for being up-tempo and heavy on the 3-balls. ... In waxing Alabama over the weekend, the Tigers had 13 steals, forced 21 turnovers and outscored the Crimson Tide 30-14 in points off turnovers. They lead the SEC in both turnover margin (plus-5.7) and blocked shots (5.6 pg), both of which initiate transition opportunities. ... Though Brown is Auburn's best player, point guard
Jared Harper is the guy who makes the Tigers go. Only Brown has more field-goal and 3-point attempts than Harper, who also has ridiculous range, as well. His 30-footer in the first half against Bama came after Auburn had missed its first six attempts from 3-point range. The Tigers went on to make a sizzling 13 of their next 17 from deep on the way to the 21-point blowout. ... Center
Austin Wiley (10.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg), a projected first-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, is expected to miss his fifth straight game due to foot injury. ... Forward
Chuma Okeke is hitting nearly 48 percent from the floor and leads the team with 59 offensive rebounds. ... Guard
Samir Doughty has some nice splits on his percentages: 47.6 overall and 42.3 from deep. ... Guard
Anfernee McLemore missed the final seven games of last season due to injury, which was a tough blow to the Tigers' depth. ... Backup guard
J'Von McCormick is only playing 11.6 minutes per game, but they're efficient minutes shooting the basketball. He's at nearly 52 percent overall and 55.6 on his 3s.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
The last time the Gators played at Auburn, forward Canyon Barry (left) scored 30 points in UF's 114-95 rout on his way to SEC Sixth Man of the Year.
* .153 — Nembhard's 3-point percentage during the first six games of the SEC season, based on going 4-for-26.
* .545 — Nembhard's 3-point percentage over the previous three games (at TCU, then home against Ole Miss and Kentucky), based on going 6-for-11.
* 62 — Offensive rebounds for Hayes this season.
* 68 — Defensive rebounds for Hayes this season, meaning 47.7 percent of his 130 total rebounds have come on the offensive end.
* 114 — Points scored by the Gators the last time they went to Auburn. That was two years ago, when No. 15 UF put six players in double figures, led by 30 off the bench from forward
Canyon Barry, as the Gators blew open a game tied at halftime by scoring 60 points after the break on the way to a seventh straight win. The 19-point victory, though, was marred by the loss of center
John Egbunu to a knee injury that, as it turned out, was not just season-ending, but career-ending.
* 2009 — The last year Auburn beat Florida. It was in the quarterfinal-round of the SEC Tournament in Tampa, where
Korvotney Barber had 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers. The Gators had a late chance to tie the game, but freshman guard
Erving Walker's 3-point attempt was blocked by
Quantez Richardson just before the final buzzer.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
Florida is going to Auburn for a basketball game, but the Gators better be ready for a track meet.
