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Florida men's basketball routs Auburn
As Andy noted, everything seemed to go right for the Gators on Saturday. In addition to playing stifling defense, Florida exploded offensively. The Gators boast the no. 2 scoring defense and the no. 4 field goal defense and held the Tigers to 6-of-24 three-point shooting. Florida also shot nearly 57 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from three point range in their 95-63 domination of Auburn. Perhaps the most pleasantly surprising offensive statistic was Florida's 83.3 percent free throw percentage (20-of-24). That is by far their best free throw percentage this season.
Five players scored in double digits, with Dorian Finney-Smith scoring 24, Kasey Hill and Chris Chiozza scoring 14 each, John Egbunu scoring 12, and KeVaughn Allen scoring 11. Finney-Smith is only 35 points shy of becoming the 51st player to score 1,000 points in their career at Florida.
It was the eleventh time since the SEC expanded (in the 1991-92 season) that the Gators have hit 95 points in an SEC game, and only the ninth time that the Gators have done so in regulation. A win against Vanderbilt on Tuesday would be the Gators' fourth straight SEC win. Florida's decisive defeat of Auburn helped put the Gators in a four-way tie for second place in the SEC standings.
Women's basketball falls to Missouri
The Florida women's hoops team did not fair as well as their male counterparts this weekend. The No. 22 Gators fell 79-64 on the road at No. 23 Missouri Sunday. Florida is now 16-4 overall and 4-3 in the SEC.
The Gators and Tigers were tied at the end of the first quarter, and again at halftime, before Missouri outscored Florida 41-26 in the second half. The Gators have largely been a fourth quarter team this year, in their 19 games this season they have only been outscored in the fourth quarter three times.
Florida's offense sputtered in the second half and personal fouls were also an issue for the Gators. Six personal fouls were called on Florida before the Gators were even able to score a point in the third quarter. Four Gators finished with four fouls and one finished with five. Auburn shot 53.1 percent from the floor, which is the highest percentage by a Gator opponent this season.
Gymnastics wins second straight versus top-10 team
The Gators defeated Auburn 197.075 to 195.90 as new Florida head coach Jenny Rowland returned to Auburn, where she had worked as an assistant for the last five seasons. The Gators swept the meet event titles. Bridget Sloan took the uneven bars, posting a 9.925, Alex McMurtry took both vault and balance beam, scoring a 9.90 on each, and Kennedy Baker captured the floor title with a 9.95 (which was the highest score posted in any event).
Sloan won the all-around title, with Baker finishing second and Alicia Boren finishing in a tie for third with Auburn's Caitlin Atkinson. Sloan's two event wins bring her total of career event wins to 75. She is one of only five Gators to have captured more than 70 event titles in their Florida careers.
It was the third straight meet in which Bridget Sloan won the all-around and the uneven bars, Alex McMurtry took first in vault, and Kennedy Baker captured the floor title. The Gators continue their streak of facing top-10 opponents when No. 4 Alabama comes to the O'Connell Center this Friday.
Track and field posts two NCAA-leading times
The No. 1 men's, and No. 6 women's, Florida track and field teams kicked off the 2016 season this weekend. At the Rod McCravy Invitational, the Gators posted two times that led the NCAA. Both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams each recorded the top times of the young 2016 collegiate season. The men's 4x400-meter relay team posted a time of 3:05.57. The women's team posted a 3:30.51 time which beat the second place finish by seven seconds, and was good for the third spot on Florida's all-time indoor top-10 times list. It also beat the previous NCAA leading recorded time by nearly three seconds.
Women's track and field team members also recorded top five Division I times in three events: Claudine Francis in the 800 meters, Skylar Ross-Randsom in the 60-meter hurdles, and Shayla Sanders in 60 meters. KeAndre Bates was the runner-up in the men's long jump on Friday, finishing second only to Olympian Marquise Goodwin.
The best of the rest
Florida men's tennis participated in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Gators defeated Texas on Saturday 4-0 but fell 4-3 to No. 15 Texas Tech on Sunday, eliminating Florida from a spot in the ITA Team Indoor Championship. ... On Senior Day, the No. 11 Florida women's swimming and diving team upset the No. 10 Auburn Tigers 192-108. The women won 13 of 16 events. The No. 4 men's swimming and diving team fell to the No. 7 Auburn men's team, 154.5-145.5. The men's team won seven of their events. Seven Gators posted U.S. Olympic Trial qualifying times. ... Three former Gators are headed to the Super Bowl. Andre Caldwell, Max Garcia and Lerentee McCray's Denver Broncos will face the (Gator-less) Carolina Panthers. ... One former Gator is scheduled to participate in this Sunday's Pro Bowl, with the Cincinnati Bengals' Reggie Nelson selected to his first Pro Bowl this year. Former Florida lineman Mike Pouncey was also selected to his third straight Pro Bowl, but will not be playing after injuring his foot late in the season.