AUBURN, Ala. – It's the annual Play4Kay Pink Game Monday night at Auburn Arena as the Auburn women's basketball team hosts No. 19 Florida at 6 p.m. CT.
The Tigers will wear pink, and all fans are encouraged to wear pink as well. The first 500 fans will receive a pink Vickie Orr replica jersey t-shirt, available at the scholarship entrance.
In addition, for every student that attends, head coach Johnnie Harris will donate $2 and associate head coach Bob Starkey will donate $1 to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
The Tigers are coming off a heartbreaking 68-66 loss at Arkansas Thursday night where they led in the final minute but saw the Razorbacks bank in a jumper with less than a second to go to pull off the win. Honesty Scott-Grayson scored a season-high 23 points in the loss.
Florida, meanwhile, is one of the SEC's hottest teams, having won eight of their last nine games, including a victory over Mississippi State Thursday night at home. The Gators are ranked 19th in the AP poll and 23rd in the coaches' poll and visit Auburn Arena as a ranked team for the first time since 2016 – an 80-58 Auburn win over the then-No. 16 Gators.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call beginning at 5:45 p.m. CT on WQSI 93.9 FM in Auburn. The game can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Monday's game will air nationally on SEC Network with Brenda VanLengen and Aja Ellison calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› A fight to the finish came down to a last-second shot, which Arkansas knocked down to pull off a 68-66 win over the Tigers Thursday night at Bud Walton Arena.
›› With the score tied 66-66, Arkansas ran an inbound play to leading scorer Amber Ramirez, who drove to the baseline and banked in a 10-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining to give Arkansas the win.
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson had a season-high 23 points along with eight rebounds, three assists and a steal. Jala Jordan hit three 3-pointers en route to a 13-point night, and Aicha Coulibaly added 12.
›› Both teams shot 41 percent from the floor. Arkansas overcame a poor-shooting first half to knock down five 3-pointers in the second half, four of them from Ramirez, who finished with a game-high 30 points. Auburn had a solid night at the free-throw line, hitting 13-of-16, and the Tigers out-rebounded Arkansas 38-36.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn's second SEC win of the season.
›› Snap a four-game skid against Florida.
›› Be the Tigers' third win over a ranked opponent this season (#4 Tennessee, #18 Georgia Tech).
AUBURN-FLORIDA SERIES
›› Auburn is 38-25 all-time against Florida, including a 16-7 edge at home. The teams met earlier this season, a 68-63 Florida win in Gainesville.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 13, 2022, in Gainesville
Florida 68, Auburn 63
›› Aicha Coulibaly scored an SEC-high 24 points and Auburn led with less than a minute to go, but Florida ended the game on an 8-0 run to hand the Tigers a 68-63 loss.
›› The Tigers fought back from as much as a 13-point deficit to take the lead late in the fourth quarter – Auburn led 63-60 with just over a minute to play – but were unable to seal the deal as Florida hit six free throws in the final seconds.
›› Coulibaly led all scorers with her 24 points and also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. She was the only Tiger in double-figures; Honesty Scott-Grayson had nine points, Sania Wells added eight, and Precious Johnson scored seven in her first collegiate start. Scott-Grayson led the Tigers with three assists, and Mar'Shaun Bostic had three steals off the bench.
›› Auburn out-shot the Gators 41 to 38 percent, and both teams knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. But Auburn uncharacteristically struggled at the free-throw line, missing nine attempts (17-26) while the Gators were nearly flawless at 20-for-23 (87%). The Tigers outrebounded Florida 37-36 and cut down on the turnovers late with just five in the second half.
SCOUTING FLORIDA
›› Florida is one of the SEC's hottest teams, having won eight of its last nine games to move into the national rankings at No. 19 in the AP and No. 23 in the coaches' poll.
›› The Gators average 69.1 points per game while holding opponents to 63.8. Florida is the league's top free-throw shooting team at 73.4%
›› Kiara Smith leads the Gators in scoring (14.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.5) and steals (2.4) per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 9-13, 1-10 in SEC play. After falling in five SEC games where the Tigers either led in the fourth quarter or were within one possession in the final minute, the Tigers finally broke through with a stunning 71-61 win over No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 27, snapping a 23-game SEC losing streak.
›› With wins at No. 18 Georgia Tech on Nov. 21 and at home over No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 27, Auburn has two wins over ranked opponents for the first time since 2016.
›› Sophomore Aicha Coulibaly leads Auburn and is fourth in the SEC in scoring with 18.2 points/game. She is also the Tigers' top rebounder with 7.7 rebounds per game (9th SEC). She has topped the 20-point mark in nine contests, scoring a career-high 27 against Charleston Southern, 23 against North Florida, 25 vs. Oklahoma State, 24 at Belmont, 23 vs. Kennesaw State, 24 at Florida, 26 vs. Tennessee, 21 at Vanderbilt and 24 vs. Mississippi State. She also has four double-doubles this season, including 14 points and 11 rebounds vs. Kentucky. For her efforts against UNF and OSU, she was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 7.
›› Redshirt junior Honesty Scott-Grayson is averaging 12.5 points and 5.6 rebounds, and she has recorded two double-doubles. She scored a season-high 23 points at Arkansas (2/10).
›› Junior guard Sania Wells is the SEC's top free-throw shooter at .925 (62-67), which also ranks 6th nationally. She scored a career-high 20 points at Missouri on Jan. 6.
›› Junior Annie Hughes is the only Tiger to appear in every game since the start of the 2019-20 season. Hughes scored a career-high 21 points and hit 5 3-pointers against Charleston Southern on Nov. 26. She also hit a key 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter that was a dagger in the Tigers' upset of No. 4 Tennessee.
›› Precious Johnson, a 6-5 transfer from Texas, joined the Tigers for the spring semester and made her Auburn debut Jan. 9 vs. LSU, then made her first collegiate start four days later at Florida, scoring 7 points along with 5 rebounds. She scored a career-high 9 points with 8 rebounds against Alabama on Jan. 23.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn travels to Columbia, S.C., to face No. 1 South Carolina at 6 p.m. CT Thursday.
Play4Kay Pink Game: Auburn hosts Florida Monday night
