Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore forward Johni Broome hit a go-ahead layup with 1:12 to play and guard junior guard Wendell Green Jr. took a UF turnover on its final half-court possession for a run-out layup as 20th-ranked Auburn held off visiting Florida for a 61-58 victory in the Southeastern Conference opener for both both teams in front of a Tigers-crazy crowd Wednesday night at Neville Arena. UF had a chance to take the lead out of timeout with 18.2 seconds left, but forward Colin Castleton was stripped trying to post and the ball was advanced to Green who finished the play with a building going wild. Gators guard Kyle Lofton got the inbound with just under two seconds left, but his desperation two-handed heave was well short, giving Auburn its 25th consecutive home win. Both Broome and Green finished with a team-high 14 points, with 11 of Green's coming after halftime. The Gators got 15 points from sophomore backup wing Kowacie Reeves, plus another 10 off the bench from fifth-year senior guard Myreon Jones. Castleton, the team's leading scorer coming in at 15.8 points per game, was held to just six points on 1-for-6 shooting to go with eight rebounds and four assists. UF, which fell behind 7-0 to start the game, gave itself a chance with a defense that held the Tigers to 38.2 percent and forced 15 turnovers. The Gators hurt themselves, however, with another troubling night from the 3-point line, finishing 3-for-19 (just 15.8 percent) compared to 55.1 percent (15 of 29) from inside the arc. The Tigers worked the Gators on the glass, with a 40-28 edge on the boards, with a 17-5 margin on the offensive glass leading to 12 second-chance points. Broome, a Plant City, Fla., product who UF recruited hard out of the transfer portal, also had 11 rebounds and four assists.  WHAT IT MEANS: It's never good to start the conference season with an "L." It's even tougher, especially for the Gators, when that first league loss is another of the Quadrant 1" variety, as far as the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) is concerned, given that UF was an ugly 0-5 in Q1s at the start of the day. Make that 0-6. Florida, for now, is the only SEC team to play six Q1 games (with only four other league teams with as many as four), for what that's worth. Without any wins, it's not worth very much. That said, it's clear -- even with their shooting woes -- the Gators are finding their identity. It's on the defensive end, where they've been pretty solid the last six games, with only a 3-3 record to show for it.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Where would the Gators have been without Reeves (7 of 14 from the floor) and Jones (5-6 from the free-throw line) off the bench? 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: Over the last two games (last week's loss to Oklahoma in Charlotte and now this one at Auburn), the Gators were a combined 5-for-41 from the 3-point line. That's 12.1 percent. As staggering as that statistic is, it's equally staggering that UF was very much to those both games, with a tremendous chance to steal one Wednesday. 

UP NEXT: Florida (7-6, 0-1) is off for a week, then gets consecutive games at the O'Dome. First comes Texas A&M (7-5, 0-0) on Jan. 4, followed three days later by the return of former Coach Mike White, who will bring his Georgia (10-3, 0-0) squad to town for a much-anticipated reunion game.