Florida vs. Auburn score, takeaways: No. 16 Gators muzzled as Tigers nab first series road win in 30 years

Basketball

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The last time the Auburn Tigers won a men’s basketball game at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, the Florida Gators were just over a month into celebrating the football team’s first national championship. Thirty years later, Auburn has summited the mountain again, earning a measure of revenge from the 2025 Final Four over No. 16 Florida through a dominant 76-67 effort in Gainesville, Florida.

The Gators never truly competed Saturday afternoon, trailing by double digits early in the first half and ultimately facing an 18-point deficit early in the second half. They eventually rallied to erase their gap but never took the lead, as the Tigers’ ferocious effort on both ends of the court was enough to buoy the visitors to victory.

UF snapped three home winning streaks on Saturday: 15 straight against Auburn since 2001, 16 straight overall and 10 straight against SEC opponents — the latter two dating back to last year’s national championship season.

Let’s take a look at what went wrong Saturday with some Fastbreak Takeaways.

It was over when … junior forward Thomas Haugh, who was excellent in the second half, made a dumb late save under Florida’s own basket, allowing Auburn to complete an easy fastbreak layup and jump ahead by eight points with 102 seconds remaining.

Earlier in the second half, the Gators surged behind a 13-2 stretch — bookended by big plays from sophomore guard Boogie Fland — cutting their deficit from a season-high 18 points seconds into the to just seven with 14:14 to play. Five straight from Haugh, who at one point scored nine of 13 UF points, jump-started an 11-2 run that erased the gap, tying the game with 9 minutes remaining. The Gators were never able to take the lead as a goaltending call for Haugh was overturned with the Tigers immediately scoring on their next possession.

First half focus: Auburn did not miss over the first 5:24, using a stunning 19-2 run to take an early 14-point lead. Florida trimmed its deficit to 3 points on the back of a 13-2 stretch, including consecutive makes from beyond the arc at the midway point, but the visitors quickly responded with an 8-0 run to lead by 12 as UF missed six straight shots. The Gators not only got beat on the boards, they were unable to register a single offensive rebound for the first 14:07. Ultimately, Florida trailed by 15 at the break while being outrebounded 20-13 and outscored 22-12 in the paint.

Exceptional efforts: As he has been all season, Haugh was by far Florida’s best player on Saturday. The third-year big man scored a game-high 27 points on 9 of 19 shooting, hitting 3 of 9 attempts from beyond the arc and completing a double-double with 10 rebounds. No one else on the team came close to competing at his level. Junior center Rueben Chinyelu did register 10 points and seven boards, but it was a far cry from his recent reign of dominance.

Badder than bad: The regression of junior F/C Alex Condon continued Saturday. Though he grabbed nine rebounds, Condon went 0 of 4 from the floor and 0 of 2 from long range, only scoring 1 point — a free throw in the waning seconds. He also committed four turnovers and nearly fouled out. Condon is now 1 of 14 from downtown since Jan. 6 (.071) and 4 of 33 from distance since Nov. 21, 2025 (.121). It is unconscionable that he is even attempting such shots at this point.

Senior G Xaivian Lee was largely benched by head coach Todd Golden after committing three turnovers and missing a pair of free throws. Fland did what he could with the ball in his hands, dishing a game-high five assists, but his ineffectiveness as a shooter is killing this team. He went 0 of 4 from deep and is now 1 of 13 from 3-point range since Jan. 13 (.077), 4 of 31 since Dec. 29, 2025 (.129).

Odds & ends: Florida drops to 85-93 all-time against Auburn, though UF has won 27 of the last 34 meetings since 2001 … the Gators snapped a 30-year home winning streak spanning 15 games against the Tigers … Florida snapped home winning streaks of 16 games overall and 10 games against SEC teams … UF fell to 2-5 when tied or trailing at halftime, 0-5 when trailing with 5 minutes left, 1-5 when an opponent shoots better than 45% from the field, 2-6 when being outshot by an opponent and 8-5 when being outshot by an opponent from 3-point range

What it means: Condon (.328) and Fland (.340) were both quality 3-point shooters last season. Their fall off, coupled with Lee’s inconsistency, remains the primary reason why this Gators team has such a low ceiling in 2025-26. Florida entered Saturday ranked 354th out of 361 teams nationally in distance shooting (.286), worst among power conference programs. Its 25.9% mark on Saturday was actually its sixth-worst of the season.

Perhaps even more maddening than UF’s terrible efficiency beyond the arc is how it gave the game away at the charity stripe. Florida was hovering around 50% for the game before some late makes, ultimately hitting 16 of 27 from the free-throw line (.593), its second-worst effort of the campaign. This after going 14 of 27 (.519) in its prior game against LSU, an 18-point victory. The Gators have missed 24 free throws in their last two games.

Golden was simply outcoached by 38-year-old rookie Steven Pearl on Saturday. The Tigers were all over their hosts inside, winning the paint scoring battle 38-28. UF got back into the game by finding its rebounding flow, ultimately winning 39-32 overall (17-8 from the offensive glass), but it was too little too late.

What’s next? Florida will look to bounce back from this devastating loss when it hits the road Wednesday to face South Carolina. The game will air at 9 p.m. ET and air live on SEC Network.