Saturday’s Southeastern Conference battle between the Florida Gators and Auburn Tigers in Gainesville did not go quite as expected, with Todd Golden prevailing in wire-to-wire fashion over his mentor Bruce Pearl with an 81-65 win. The predictions had slightly favored the visitors but the home squad turned the tables on those prognostications.
As a result of the loss, Pearl and the Tigers earned the “loser” distinction in CBS Sports’ winners and losers column following the day’s action. David Cobb weighed in on both Auburn in his segment while also touching on Florida.
“Entering the weekend, No. 12 Auburn had just four losses, all coming by six points or less,” Cobb begins. “Meanwhile, all 19 of its victories had come by 11 points or more. Something unprecedented happened at Florida, as the Gators smacked Auburn 81-65, revealing an ugly side of the Tigers that we hadn’t seen this season.
“UF led by 29 in the second half before calling off the dogs and letting Auburn salvage a morsel of dignity. It was a critical Quad 1 win for Florida, which entered the day as a projected No. 11 seed for the NCAA Tournament in the latest Bracketology.”
Cobb continued with the following.
“Second-year coach Todd Golden has his program moving in the right direction,” he notes. “It also showed that Auburn isn’t as trustworthy as previously believed. Winning on the road in the SEC is tough, and perhaps this was just a hangover performance following an emotional win over rival Alabama on Wednesday. But it will be hard to shake the memory of this beatdown when it comes to time to fill out a bracket after Selection Sunday.”
Next up for the Gators are the LSU Tigers, who come to Gainesville to take on Florida inside the O’Connell Center on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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