Knowing the Florida Gators Opponent: Auburn Tigers

The Gators head to Neville Arena to take on the consensus top basketball team in the nation

Auburn is hands down the Gators toughest opponent on the schedule / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Gainesville, Fla. — the Florida Gators have had one heck of a season so far filled with talented teams on the schedule. They’ve played the likes of Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, all of which are in the top 25. 

However, the Gators have yet to face their toughest opponent, the No. 1 Auburn Tigers. They’ll have to go behind enemy lines when they take the court against them on Saturday. 

With that being said, let’s take a look at what makes this Auburn team so dangerous. 

Dominating a Tough Schedule

What you see is what you get with this Auburn squad. They have had as tough of a schedule as anybody in the entire country. Yet, they’ve dominated throughout. They beat Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis just in the month of November. 

Auburn’s only loss came against Duke back in December. They also took down Big Ten schools, Ohio State and Purdue. The one thing these teams all have in common is that they are or once were AP Top 25 teams. 

And since the beginning of the SEC schedule for the Tigers, they played Missouri, Mississippi State, Georgia, Tennessee and Ole Miss. so, to say they’re battle-tested would be an understatement. 

Having this schedule and being 21-1, which includes a 12-1 record against Quad 1 teams, warrants being the unanimous top team in the country.

Potential Wooden Award Winner 

There’s a lot to like about this roster and how it’s been put together by head coach Bruce Pearl. 

Five players are averaging 10 or more points per game and there’s a sixth player right there as well with 9.6. 

But the most notable Tiger on the roster is Johni Broome. He leads them in points (18.2), rebounds (10.9), assists (3.2) and blocks (2.8) per game all while being the tallest player on the court and anchoring this defense in the paint. 

By doing this, he’s also earned himself on the Wooden Award midseason watch list, an award that is given to the best player that season. 

As mentioned though, this isn’t a one-man army. Others who have imposed themselves are guys like Chad Baker-Mazara, freshman Tahaad Pettiford and Denver Jones. Even when Broome was absent due to an ankle injury, Auburn rattled off two wins against SEC opponents.

Just know, this is about as good of a roster as it gets in college basketball. If the Gators want to walk out of Auburn alive, they’re going to have to be near perfect. 

A complete team that shows up in every metric

There’s so many stats from this Auburn team that shows how dangerous they are that it’s hard to know where to start. 

They can score with anyone in the country (85.1 points per game, No. 7 in the country), they don’t turn the ball over (tied-8th for turnovers per game), they move the ball around extremely well (No. 15 in the country in assists per game) and these are only just a few of the handpicked stats. 

However, the stat that shows just how dominant they’ve been this season is their scoring margin. Auburn is No. 3 in the country in scoring margin — albeit only one spot ahead of Florida — with a margin of 18 points. That’s absurd given their schedule. 

It’s also easy to see how they’ve managed this. They are No. 16 in field goal percentage defense, which has led to holding opponents to just 66.7 points per game as well. 

Auburn isn’t just an offensive or defensive team, they’re a complete team that puts themselves near the top of every important metric. Florida will need to be on their A-game in this one and a very healthy Walter Clayton Jr. to walk out of Neville Arena with a victory.