Walter Clayton Jr. came back from injury and collected 19 points and nine assists to lead visiting No. 6 Florida to its second upset of a top-ranked team this year, toppling No. 1 Auburn 90-81 on Saturday.
Alex Condon produced 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Gators (20-3, 7-3 Southeastern Conference), who also stunned then-No. 1 Tennessee on Jan. 7.
Thomas Haugh added 16 points and nine rebounds and Will Richard chipped in with 12 points as Florida snapped Auburn’s 14-game winning streak and its 15-game run in the SEC, which dated to last year.
Florida led by as many as 21 points in the second half on its way to its first upset in eight tries of a No. 1-ranked team on the road.
While the Gators benefited from the return of Clayton, who sat out a win Tuesday over Vanderbilt with an ankle injury, they also overcame the loss of second-leading scorer Alijah Martin (15.3 points per game), who was sidelined by a hip injury.
In the first meeting of the teams since Auburn defeated Florida in the SEC tournament final last year, the Gators exacted revenge as they made 13 of 33 (39.4 percent) of their shots from 3-point range and 48.4 percent overall.
Miles Kelly scored 22 points and Johni Broome delivered 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists to pace Auburn (21-2, 9-1).
Tahaad Pettiford added 14 points and Chaney Johnson added 13 for the Tigers.
Fueled by a four-point play by Chad Baker-Mazara and a pair of baskets by Kelly, Auburn raced to a 15-5 lead 6 minutes into the game.
Late in the half, the Tigers took a 31-25 lead when Broome made a spinning, driving layup.
But in the final 5:40 of the period, the Gators outscored the Tigers 23-7 with Clayton scoring 13 of the points.
Haugh added five points in the final 45 seconds of the half as Florida grabbed a 48-38 lead.
Early in the second half, Clayton fed Condon for a three-point play and followed with a triple to put the Gators up 60-43.
Urban Klavzar hit 3-pointers 13 seconds apart to give Florida its biggest lead of the game, 68-47, with 14:21 left.
After that, the Tigers whittled the deficit to nine points on four occasions. But in the final eight minutes, Denzel Aberdeen hit two 3-pointers and Richard added another to steady the Gators.
–Field Level Media
