GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They've been pretty good at building big leads this season. Protecting them has been another matter for the Florida Gators.
Such was not the issue Saturday.
The lead the Gators built against 16th-ranked Auburn – after some real talk at intermission and an electric start to the second half – was so big, and the eventual 81-65 victorious outcome at sold-out and pumped up Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center so delightful, that not even a stone-cold shooting spell over the final 10 minutes could put the outcome in doubt and keep the home team from celebrating one of the most impressive victories of Coach Todd Golden's two seasons on the UF sidelines. That makes five wins over the past six for the Gators (16-7, 6-4), but just as important was that it provided a huge boost to the team's postseason resume, what with the Tigers (19-5, 8-3) coming into the game sitting at No. 7 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool that ultimately will seed the NCAA Tournament.
UF backup guard Riley Kugel poured in a game-high 22 points, with the starting backcourt of Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin pitching in 20 and 19, respectively, as the Gators amassed a 29-point second-half advantage against a dastardly efficient defense and coasted home in a game they led from the first bucket to the final horn.
"I thought we played great," Golden said. "Start to finish, our best effort of the year."
Kugel hit seven of 16 shots, three of seven 3-point tries, was perfect on five free throws and grabbed four rebounds over 29 minutes. His point output was his highest since tallying 24 in a loss at Wake Forest on Nov. 29, but also spoke to the manner in which the talented sophomore dealt with his role; one that took him from a preseason All-SEC selection to coming off the bench. It hasn't always been a smooth ride, but Kugel is navigating it better these days.
"I keep my head up. Don't dwell on anything. Keep pushing. Don't overthink anything. Just stay positive," Kugel said. "I know my teammates got me and I got them ... And I had a caramel frappuccino this morning, so ... ."
Memo to UF nutritionists: Get him one every game-day morning.
Clayton, the junior and transfer from Iona, dropped a trio of 3s and grabbed six rebounds. Pullin, the grad-transfer from California-Riverside, added six boards, three assists and some timely buckets in the second half.
"Florida's guards are really good," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "As good as anybody's guards."
All told, the backcourt triumvirate totaled 61 points of the team's 81 points and shot a collective 18 of 43 from the floor, 7-for-17 from distance and had just two of the team's seven turnovers against a team that was forcing a league-high 13.7 per game. All this against a defense that began the day ranked No. 2 overall in efficiency and allowing opponents to 42.5 percent from the 2-point area and 29.9 from deep.
Point guard Zyon Pullin (0) had his midrange game working on the way to scoring 19 points.
Defensively, at least for an afternoon, the Gators claimed the role of stoppers, limiting the Tigers to 42.1 percent for the game and only 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) from the arc. Credit to UF's 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten, who made himself a physical factor on the defensive end, finishing with nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
"Micah was great," Clayton said.
While Auburn's shooting percentage for the game ended up higher than the Gators' 40.3 as a team, those numbers were mostly cosmetic, as UF failed to hit a field goal over the final nine-plus minutes and still posted a richly satisfying blowout home win before a crowd that included former Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, now with the Indianapolis Colts.
"It's in the same bucket as the Kentucky win," Golden said, referencing his team's 94-91 overtime triumph at Lexington just 10 days earlier. "A program-lifting win."
And the home team was in charge throughout.
There was plenty for Riley Kugel(left) and Tyrese Samuel (right) to smile about Saturday.
The Gators, coming off a bye week but still probably smarting from last weekend's 67-66 loss at Texas A&M, pounced on the Tigers from the tip, scoring the game's first nine points and opening a 17-point lead after 12 minutes, and 19 with a minute to go in the period before heading to the locker room ahead 42-26 at the break.
"That was a big key. We wanted to come out to a fast start," Pullin said. "We fed off of the crowd and got off to a pretty good run."
They repeated that run to start the second half, which was exactly what the staff talked about at intermission.
Florida had lost some double-digit leads – and games – several times this season, including a 12-point advantage early in the second half a week earlier at A&M. Longtime trainer Dave Werner came to Golden before he spoke to the players at halftime and recalled how Billy Donovan used to tell his guys, "Let's just play like we're playing all day. Play like there is no clock."
It was time to grow up, Golden told his team, and put this foe away. The Gators took the message to heart.
"As a team, the mentality has to be to step on their neck and put 'em in the ground," Clayton said. "We needed to do that."
Auburn hit a couple free throws to start the period, with Clayton answering with two more. On the Gators' second possession of the period, Clayton brought the ball up the floor, dribbled to the top of the key and without hesitation swished an NBA range 3-pointer to. Six minutes into the half, the Gators had scored 22 points – highlighted by a show-stopping 4-point play by Kugel in transition – and led 64-35, as the packed O'Dome went bonkers.
"Each and every game, the place gets more electric," Kugel said of the fourth straight weekend sellout. "We're here for it."
The Gators' margin was 27 inside 10 minutes remaining after a driving floater by Pullin put his team ahead 73-46. UF didn't hit another field goal the rest of the game, going 0-for-10 and getting outscored 19-8, producing all its points at the free-throw line. Auburn was led by forward Johni Broome, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, whose 14 points and seven rebounds were below the All-America candidate's season averages. The Tigers' other big, 6-8, 245-pound Jaylin Williams, came into the game averaging 15.6 points and 5.6 in SEC play after ripping Alabama for a career-high 26. Williams was held to six points and did not grab a rebound over 21 minutes.
So, what about those final dry 10 minutes? Did they bother Golden?
"No. We were winning by a lot, so as long as we didn't stop winning by a lot I was going to be OK," he said. "I didn't think we went too much [into] stall mode. It was more of just missing some shots. We were still getting to the line, so that ain't going to upset me today."
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