GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The higher you're ranked, the more opponents are gunning to knock you off. No. 4 Auburn found that out the hard way Saturday, losing 69-47 on the road at Florida.
"I'm disappointed with our play," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's the time of the year when we should be trying to elevate our play, and we're not. Obviously, there's a pretty big price on our head being ranked fourth in the country. And so I think we have to respond to the step-up that we saw this week from both Alabama and Florida."
The Tigers started ice cold from the field but still stayed with Florida in the first half thanks to solid defense and much-improved shooting at free-throw line. They forced 12 turnovers, which led to 12 points, and made all 10 of their free throws in the first 20 minutes.
At the half, Auburn trailed 28-23 despite shooting 21 percent from the field.
Senior Danjel Purifoy, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Anfernee McLemore, scored a team-high 10 points off the bench and also added four rebounds, two assists and a steal. It was Purifoy's ninth game in double figures and his third in SEC play.
Fellow senior Austin Wiley finished with nine points, a team-high six rebounds and two blocks. He now has nine multi-block games over his last nine contests.
One encouraging sign for this Auburn team was the play of Samir Doughty in the second half. Coming off a season-low seven points at Alabama, Doughty failed to score in the first half Saturday. But the senior found a rhythm in the second half, knocking down back-to-back 3s at one point. He also threw down a dunk and finished with eight points, all coming after halftime.
With the loss, Auburn moves to 15-2 on the season and 3-2 in a wide-open SEC race.
"This is as competitive as I've seen the SEC," Pearl said. "The teams that keep their locker room are going to finish in the upper division of the league and make the tournament because teams are going to get beat."
The Tigers will return home next week for two games in Auburn Arena where they are a perfect 9-0 on the season. First up is a league game against South Carolina on Wednesday, and then they host Iowa State on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.