TAMPA — Prior to Friday night, the last time Auburn defeated Florida was the 2000 SEC Tournament, a 78-70 decision at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. For three quarters of Friday night’s second round game in the 2009 SEC tournament, it looked like the Gators still had Auburn’s number.
My, how those final ten minutes erased nearly ten years of misery.
Auburn did it with a pit bull defense that just kept on attacking and attacking until the Florida Gators had been beaten 61-58. Led by Quantez Robertson, who not only blocked Erving Walker’s three-pointer that could have tied the game with five seconds left but harassed Florida’s All-SEC point guard Nick Calathes into one of the worst shooting nights of his career (3-13 from the field; 1-6 from beyond the arc), the Tigers won the game on the strength of their defensive intensity.
Reed finished the game with only two points, but sometimes value can’t be measured in points alone.
“DeWayne Reed was tremendous,” said Auburn coach Jeff Lebo. “You’re not going to see it here on the stat sheet. [Reed] really did a great job the time he was in on Calathes. He was the key to the game, I thought.”
Stopping Calathes was the focal point of Auburn’s defensive game plan. Back in January, Calathes burned the Tigers for 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. He managed only seven points in this one and spent much of the night looking completely frustrated and out of sorts for most of the contest.
It took more than just stopping Calathes, however. Other than Alex Tyus (21 points and 11 rebounds) and Erving Walker (14 points, 3-7 on three-pointers) Florida generated very little offense against a team where the Gators had a rare size advantage. Auburn starts just one one player taller than 6-5 and that’s 6-7 Korvotney Barber. The Tigers have proven with in their last ten games, however, that size isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.
“We use our quickness,” he said. “We make a lot of adjustments game to game. Our kids have really bought into our defense, and I think that’s probably an area where we made the biggest improvement from last year.”
Auburn now faces Tennessee (coming off a dominating 86-62 victory over Alabama) on Saturday at 3:15 pm for the right to play for the SEC Championship. Both teams now squarely look to be in the field of 65 next weekend while Florida must wait until Sunday evening to learn its tournament fate. It’s a fate that Billy Donovan refused to comment on following the loss to Auburn.
“That’s not for me [to decide],” was his reply to a point-blank question on Florida’s tournament-worthiness. “We’ll find that out on Sunday.”
For Florida, that outcome can’t come soon enough. For the second straight season, a fruitful start has faded into a disastrous drought down the stretch. After a first-round loss to Alabama in the 2008 SEC Tournament, Billy Donovan blasted his team, questioning their work ethic and will to win at a rather sobering post game press conference.
A year later, Donovan was asked to reflect on those comments, and to remark on how far this team has come.
“Just because you’re a year older doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a year better,” Donovan said.
He wasn’t talking about work ethic. The Gators have solved that problem and they are a team that does work hard. He was talking about learning to win. They had this issue last year. They have it again this year.
So, while the beat goes on for a magical season that will send Auburn dancing with the big boys in the NCAA Tournament, the Florida Gators struggle to find their place in the basketball cosmos.
Auburn got it done with defense Friday night, the same way the Tigers have gotten it done all year long. At some point, the Gators have to decide how they’re going to get it done. It’s time for them to find their answers.