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Florida delivers first-ever road win over No. 1 team with stunning performance vs. Auburn
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Florida has pulled off a historic win for the Gators delivering the program’s first-ever road win vs. a No. 1 ranked team on Saturday.
Heading into the hyped top-10 meeting between No. 1 Auburn and No. 6 Florida, the Gators were 0-7 all-time against No. 1 teams on the road. It also looked like Florida might struggle a bit with starter Alijah Martin, the team’s 2nd-leading scorer, ruled out for the game ahead of tip-off.
Fortunately, Walter Clayton Jr. was in action, and he was instrumental in this one. He led 5 Florida players in double figures with 19 points and also led the Gators with 9 assists in the 90-81 win.
The Gators led by 10 points at halftime and pushed their lead to 16 points in the 2nd half, but Auburn never truly went away. It was a testament to how tough the Tigers have been to beat this season but could not come up with the big baskets late to cut all the way into the deficit.
Miles Kelly led Auburn with 22 points while Johni Broome was fantastic yet again with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. Chaney Johnson and Tahaad Pettiford also reached double figures for the Tigers.
The story in this one truly proved to be the offense of the Gators. Florida made 13 3-pointers, led by 4 from Clayton and a perfect 3-for-3 from Urban Klavzar off the bench.
RELATED: Use the Florida betting apps to track all the odds related to the Gators down the stretch.
Remarkably, it is already the 2nd win of the season for the Gators against the No. 1 team in the country. Florida also beat Tennessee at home earlier this season when the Vols were No. 1, but Saturday’s game goes down as the first against a road No. 1 team, adding to the degree of difficulty.
It goes down as Auburn’s first SEC defeat of the season and should make the rest of the regular season race interesting. With a win over Arkansas, Alabama will tie Auburn for first place at 9-1 in league play. Meanwhile, Florida and Texas A&M will come out of the weekend 2 games behind the SEC leaders with a 7-3 mark and 8 games still to play.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
