GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Winning in Gator country for the first time in 30 years, Keyshawn Hall scored 24 points, Auburn started strong and finished stronger to knock off No. 16 Florida 76-67 Saturday at O’Connell Center.
“That’s an unbelievable win for our ballclub,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “We’ve been here for 11 years. That might be the best road win that we’ve ever had as a program. If you look back at Auburn basketball history, that might be one of the best road wins we’ve ever had. I thought our guys, for about 32 minutes, executed the gameplan to perfection.”
Leading by 15 at the half, Sebastian Williams-Adams made a 3-pointer to put the Tigers ahead 46-28 one minute into the second half.
The defending national champions did not go down quietly, steadily chipping away and twice evening the score midway through the second half.
After Thomas Haugh, who led all scorers with 27, tied the score at 56-56 with 8:09 to play, Tahaad Pettiford restored the lead for Auburn a minute later with a jumper in the paint, and the Tigers led the rest of the game.
“They had all the momentum in the world.” Pearl said. “Our guys responded and did a great job of taking that team’s punch. Our team did a great job of hanging in there and staying together.”
Pettiford, who scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds, banked in a right-handed layup high off the glass for a 62-56 Auburn lead with 4:24 to go.
After the Gators pulled within four points, Williams-Adams drove on Florida’s Rueben Chinyelu for a layup and a six-point Auburn lead with 2:19 remaining.
Kevin Overton, who scored 10 points and led Auburn with a plus-19, made a steal and layup that gave the Tigers a 68-60 advantage with 1:42 to play.
Florida missed nine straight shots down the stretch until Haugh’s 3-point play cut Auburn’s lead to five with 1:11 on the clock.
Pettiford, Overton and KeShawn Murphy went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line over the final 70 seconds to secure Auburn’s third straight SEC victory, one that could resonate all the way to Selection Sunday.
“Our team three weeks ago would not have won this game,” said Pearl, whose Tigers made 19 of 21 free throws. “That speaks to our growth as a team, our growth as a staff, and our kids’ willingness to stick together and lock into the details of the things we’ve been harping on every single day in practice. We’ve continuously gotten better as a group.”
Murphy narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Florida (14-6, 5-2), which led for less than a minute, had won five consecutive SEC games, including a trio of top-25 victories.
On his way to a 22-point first half, Hall scored Auburn’s first 10 points to help the Tigers grab an early lead.
It took Auburn only three and a half minutes to take a 10-point lead on Pettiford’s 3-pointer.
Pettiford capped a 12-0 run with a spinning drive that gave Auburn a 19-5 lead at the 15:27 mark of the first half.
Hall scored 22 points in the half on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range, to help Auburn lead 43-28 at intermission. Hall finished with seven rebounds and a team-high four assists.
“We were swarming to the ball,” said Pearl, whose Tigers outrebounded Florida 19-13 in the opening half. “We didn’t let their size affect us. We wanted to make them settle for jump shots. The biggest difference in the first half was we held them to four offensive rebounds (on 16 missed shots). It’s the reason why we won the game.”
Auburn (13-7, 4-3) returns to Neville Arena Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT for the Rumble in the Jungle vs. Texas featuring free foam tiger paws for Auburn University students.
“For us, it’s about what we do from here,” Pearl said. “While we beat probably the best team in our league on the road – while we never got too low – we can’t let this get us too high. If we let this affect us in a way that distracts us from the next one, then it really doesn’t mean anything. We’ve got to get on to the next one.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer