The Florida Gators probably needed the Auburn Tigers to be cold while they themselves were hot to get a win at Auburn Arena on Tuesday night.
Neither of those things happened.
Auburn made nine of 25 threes, forced 17 Florida turnovers, and ripped down 10 offensive rebounds, controlling the game throughout for a 76-62 win that Florida could never really threaten.
The Gators got seven or more points from six different scorers, but no more from any one player than the 11 put up by Kevarrius Hayes. And they could never quite get untracked against a ferocious Auburn defense that harassed Andrew Nembhard (three turnovers, two assists) and KeVaughn Allen (six turnovers, three assists) all night, and forced Florida to grind for individual baskets — which, as in the case of Keyontae Johnson’s seven-point, 10-rebound, five-turnover night, had mostly poor results.