The Stretch 4: Another Saturday, another monster matchup for Auburn
Florida is the most balanced team not named Auburn in the SEC. It's also going to be one of the best teams Auburn plays all season.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — This will be the ninth time Auburn has played on a Saturday this season.
In those eight previous Saturday matchups, Auburn has won seven Quad 1 games — with six of them being ultra-valuable Quad 1-A matchups. The lone exception was arguably the Tigers’ toughest road SEC win, having to come from behind to beat South Carolina without National Player of the Year contender Johni Broome.
Everything else has been a résumé-boosting, headline-type game: Houston in Houston, Ohio State in Atlanta, Purdue in Birmingham, Missouri at home, Georgia on the road, Tennessee at home and Ole Miss on the road. Per the NET rankings, Auburn has already played three top-10 teams and two more top-20 teams on Saturdays.
So, it should come as zero surprise that Auburn has another massive Saturday game this week: A top-5 NET showdown with familiar foe Florida.
“I'm sure there's plenty more of these to come, as you look at the schedule,” Bruce Pearl said Friday morning before practice.
Pearl, of course, is correct. Next Saturday is a trip to Alabama in a game that should have major SEC championship implications. And the Tigers’ two Saturday games in March are Quad 1: A trip to Kentucky and a home finale against Alabama.
It’ll be more of the same for the best and most battle-tested team in the country.
This Saturday’s visit from Florida should be another slugfest in what has been a growing saga between Pearl and one of his former assistants — and players — in Todd Golden.
Pearl beat Golden in a low-scoring, grind-it-out game at home to open SEC play in the 2022-23 season. Then, last season, Florida blitzed Auburn early and won a game in Gainesville that wasn’t nearly as close as the 16-point margin would suggest. Auburn got its revenge in the SEC Tournament title game, though, going wire-to-wire with a 19-point victory in Nashville.
“I root for Todd, except when we’re playing against him,” Pearl said. “I probably don’t enjoy having to play against his teams, especially because both teams play so hard and so physical. I’d like to play him only one time a year — and that’s in the SEC Tournament championship game, if I could.”
Pearl can look down the sideline to one of his proteges and see a team that closely resembles his own. He said that he would rank Florida right up there with the likes of Duke, Houston, Iowa State and Tennessee as the best teams the Tigers have faced this season. All of those games went down to the wire.
And, in terms of balance, there isn’t a better comparison inside the SEC to what Auburn has right now than Florida.
According to KenPom, Auburn is third in offensive efficiency and second in defensive efficiency in SEC games. Florida is fourth and third, respectively. Auburn has five double-digit scorers and a sixth close behind. Florida has four double-digit scorers and two more not far off from that mark.
“They play super hard,” senior wing Miles Kelly said. “… They're very versatile.”
The statistical comparisons don’t stop there. Both teams rank inside the top 80 nationally in experience, continuity and size. They also are known for their physicality.
“As a team, they're a physical frontline, and they've gotten more physical over the years as they've gotten older,” fifth-year senior center Dylan Cardwell said. “Obviously with them being a physical team, it's going to be a hard challenge for us.”
Auburn is looking to extend its SEC record to a ridiculous 10-0 and further cement itself as the very best team in the country right now. Florida is looking for a signature road win and a chance to stay in the thick of the conference championship race.
The Tigers have been in similar positions on more than a few Saturdays this season. And they’ll have the advantage of playing inside a raucous Neville Arena, where hundreds of students have been camping since Auburn’s blowout win over Oklahoma on Tuesday night ended.
But, make no mistake: That experience and that environment won’t automatically make this matchup any easier.
“We'll obviously have our hands full,” Pearl said.
For a full preview of this Saturday afternoon showdown between Auburn and Florida, here is this week’s edition of The Stretch 4.