The SEC continues to be wide open in men’s basketball.
The latest victim to fall in the conference is No. 16 Florida, as the defending national champions lost to Auburn 76-67 on Saturday, Jan. 24 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. It’s the Tigers’ first signature conference win of the Steven Pearl era.
Keyshawn Hall’s team-high 24 points willed the Tigers to their first win against the Gators in Gainesville since Feb. 10, 1996.
‘Boom. That’s Auburn being Auburn! That’s Auburn Family!’ former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the Tigers’ win.
The win also marks the second upset in the SEC on Saturday and moves both teams to 5-3 in the conference standings, two things that show the conference remains wide open going into February.
Hall played a big part in Auburn being able to head into the locker room with a 15-point lead at halftime. The Tigers’ senior guard had 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half, including a 3-of-4 mark from behind the arc. He finished with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
Florida trailed at halftime 43-28 but rallied back to tie the game at 54 then at 56-56 at the 8:09 mark following a pair of free throws from Thomas Haugh. But that’d be as close as Todd Golden’s squad would get; Auburn never allowed Florida to be closer than five points for the remaining eight minutes.
Haugh led Florida with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field and had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Two additional Gators finished in double figures, as Urban Klavzar and Rueben Chinyelu added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Alex Condon, who tested the NBA draft waters last offseason following the Gators’ national championship, struggled mightily for Florida. Despite grabbing nine rebounds and recording three blocks, the 6-foot-11 forward was held to one point on 0-for-4 shooting from the field and turned the ball over four times. It’s the third time this season that an opponent has held Condon to single-digit points.
Auburn will test its now three-game win streak on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at home against Texas at 7 p.m. ET, while Florida will look to bounce back on the road against South Carolina at 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 28.
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