NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Everything went according to plan for the Gators on Thursday night: They moved the ball around on offense, didn’t give up easy three-pointers and got the win they needed.
Junior power forward Alex Tyus scored 24 points, Chandler Parsons added 21 and Florida advanced to the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament by beating Auburn 78-69 in Bridgestone Arena, bringing an end to its three-game losing streak.
UF (21-11, 9-7 SEC) will play Mississippi State (21-10, 9-7 SEC) tonight at 7:30, looking to advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“Personally, I know we’re one of the best 65 teams in the country,” Parsons said. “But I’m not on the committee.”
The Gators (21-11, 9-7 SEC) gained a 7-5 lead with 17:04 to go in the first half and never trailed after that, holding off several runs by the Tigers (15-17, 6-10 SEC) throughout the game.
“We weathered some storms when they made some runs, and I think that shows how tough we are and how mature we are,” Parsons said. “We didn’t come here just for this game. We want to be playing Sunday, so we’ve got to go back, get ready and get some rest for Mississippi State.”
UF stuck to its game plan on both ends of the floor, moving the ball around effectively and not allowing Auburn to light it up from outside the three-point line.
The Gators jumped out to a big lead halfway through the first half, outscoring Auburn 28-14 with 9:38 left before intermission, primarily on easy baskets that came as a result of effective ball movement.
Tyus, Parsons and junior center Vernon Macklin benefitted early on from UF’s perimeter passing and penetration, as the trio combined for 33 of the team’s 40 first-half points.
“I thought those three guys offensively were the recipients of some drives, some extra passes and some good ball movement that led to some easier baskets,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “We spent the last three days just talking about our ball movement and player movement and really putting a focus on that.”
With Florida able to create shots down low, it relied less on its three-point shooting, but the Gators were far more efficient from outside than in previous games.
UF entered the game shooting 30.7 percent from three-point range on the season, but the team hit seven of its 15 attempts Thursday night, including three apiece from Parsons and freshman guard Kenny Boynton.
Defensively, the Gators didn’t give the Tigers any easy looks from the outside, and Auburn connected on just 4 of 25 three-point attempts. The pressure allowed Auburn guard Frankie Sullivan to get inside and score a career-high 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, but it was a trade-off Donovan was willing to make.
“When you extend like that with their speed and quickness, you’re going to get beat off the dribble and give up some drives,” Donovan said. “But I thought we did just about as good of a job as we could’ve done guarding the three.”
While the win may have been enough to get Florida back into the NCAA Tournament, the Gators can likely secure a spot with a win over the Bulldogs tonight.
UF beat MSU 69-62 at home on Feb. 6 behind 20 points from Macklin, who surprised everyone by outplaying Bulldogs center Jarvis Varnado, the leading shot-blocker in NCAA history. Macklin said he expected the Bulldogs to put more pressure on him tonight as a result of his performance earlier this season.
“I guess that might be their game plan,” Macklin said. “They’ve also got to worry about guarding Chandler, Kenny and especially Alex and Erv. They’re going to have to guard a lot of us.”
