FINAL: Auburn 76, No. 16 Florida 67

What Happened

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior forward Keyshawn Hall scored all but two of his team-high 24 points in the first half to stake visiting Auburn to a giant lead, but it was the collective Tigers who settled in and doused Florida's furious comeback Saturday and finished off a 76-67 upset of the 16th-ranked Gators in their Southeastern Conference game at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.

The loss snapped UF's five-game winning streak, as well as a 16-game home streak dating to January 2025, and marked just the third loss at the O'Dome in 41 games over the last three seasons. It also dumped the Gators out of first place in the SEC, which now is held alone by Texas A&M.

Forward junior Thomas Haugh, in equaling his career high of 27 points to go with 10 boards, was the catalyst behind the UF rally from a season-worst 18 points down to tying the game at 56 with just over eight minutes to go. With the score knotted, Florida forced a turnover and, momentarily, appeared to have taken its first lead since the opening basket when Haugh's layup in transition was swatted away by Auburn's KeShawn Murphy (16 points, 9 rebounds) and called a gold-tend on the floor. Auburn coach Steven Pearl challenged the call and won an official's review, wiping away the basket (and Gators' two-point lead) to take the score back to 56-all.

That's when the Tigers reeled off six straight points, two buckets by point guard Tahaad Pettiford sandwiched around a jumper by guard Kevin Overton, to take a lead that never fell back below four points.

The Gators shot just 37% from the floor, went 7-for-27 from the 3-point line (26%) and killed themselves by going 16 of 27 at the free-throw line (59%). The Tigers, meanwhile hit 48% for the game, five of 15 from deep and 19-for-21 (90.5%) at the line.

Backup guard Urban Klavzar had 12 points, with center Rueben Chinyelu adding 10 points and seven rebounds, with his run of double doubles halted at four. UF forward Alex Condon, the team's second-leading scorer, was held to one point with nine rebounds and four turnovers over 37 minutes. Hall, the No. 3 scorer in the league coming in, had 22 points in the first half on seven of 11 shooting, three of four from distance and five of five at the free-throw line. His heroics helped the Tigers take 43-28 lead into the locker room.

Sophomore point guard **Boogie Fland** (0) on defense of Auburn's **Tahaad Pettiford**.

Turning Point

The goal-tend reversal -- which was the proper call -- completely changed the tenor inside the arena and basically took the crowd, which was at a fevered pitch after Haugh's bucket, out of the game.

Staggering Statistic

The win was Auburn's first at the O'Dome in 30 years. The Tigers, under Coach Cliff Ellis, last beat the Gators on the road 73-70 on Feb. 10, 1996. Their losing streak over that time was 15.

Up Next

Florida (14-6, 5-2) is on the road Wednesday night at South Carolina (11-9, 2-5). The Gamecocks, who gave the Gators a game at Columbia last season until Will Richard came to the rescue in the final seconds, lost 92-69 Saturday at Texas A&M. Auburn (13-7, 4-3) plays at home Wednesday night against Texas.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.

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