Charged by a 19 point, 13 rebound performance by Tre Mann the Gators led from wire to wire with a sizable 74-57 win over the Auburn Tigers. Mere moments before the opening tip it was announced that Auburn would be without star freshman guard Sharife Cooper due to an ankle injury and without him the Tigers simply didn’t have enough playmaking to win against a Florida team playing about as feisty defensively as they have all season. Florida’s stellar 40 minutes of basketball breaks a bit of a dry spell they’d been having the last couple of games and they will be more than content with how they performed.
Doing It All
Everyone knows Tre Mann can score but on Tuesday night he decided to contribute in an atypical way, skying for every possible defensive rebound he could get his hands on. Mann has sneakily been a solid rebounding guard averaging over 4 rebounds per game, but in this one he took it to another level. The biggest advantage of Mann defensively rebounding is the fact that when he gets a miss of the rim, the ball is in the hands of Florida’s best playmaker and they can start their fast break. This allowed the Gators to look to score in transition a bunch, something that helped their offensive efficiency.
Bouncing Back
It had been a rough few weeks for sophomore Scottie Lewis who was out for a few games due to COVID protocol and upon his return struggled. His difficulties on both ends of the floor sank his minutes and it was overall a discouraging time in his season. However, on Tuesday night he played as good as he ever has in orange and blue finishing with 16 points and 5 steals. What made his offensive performance special was the fact that he honed in on what he’s best at, attacking closeouts in a straight line, and went to those plays instead of trying to force other things. Using his length and athleticism he had some majestic layups at the rim and we truly saw the best of Lewis offensively. His 5 steals were also huge as the Gators made a concerted effort to pressure Auburn’s perimeter players since they were without Sharife Cooper. Trying to pass it over top of Florida’s pressure got the Tigers in a lot of trouble as Lewis was able to soar in the air for some big time interceptions. Florida will need Lewis playing at a high level to reach their ceiling in the final weeks and against Auburn he was up to the task.
Changing It Up
Florida has been incredibly reliant on the pick and roll as of late and it got them in trouble against Arkansas and South Carolina who figured out the attack and were effective at stopping it. Mike White and the Gators saw that their pick and roll attack was losing potency and they made a change against Auburn, using more off ball movement as opposed to the pick and roll. You could tell the team wasn’t totally comfortable with all the sets, but they also ran a few extremely well that led to easy buckets. It appears the SEC had a good idea of how to stop Florida’s pick and rolls and the Gators had to make a change and at least against Auburn their adjustments were good enough.
Final Thoughts
In recent years Florida has had the reputation of a team that blows second half leads but this was a game where they got a big lead and held onto it. Sure, there were a few stretches where Auburn got it from a 22 point lead to a 15 point lead, but there weren’t any moments that could really make your heart rate go up. All in all, this was a solid performance by the Gators playing an undermanned Auburn team. The Tigers aren’t in good shape this season and were without their best player, but Florida did exactly what you would hope and beat them handily. They did their jobs, and now have a big game to prepare for on Saturday against Kentucky.