SEC Tournament: Florida eliminates Auburn

by Barca Blog

Recap: [E4] Florida 78, [W5] Auburn 69
AP - Alex Tyus scored 24 points, and Florida snapped a three-game skid by beating Auburn 78-69 Thursday night in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. Read More

Quotables
Florida's Chandler Parsons on the victory:
"Auburn's a tough team, and we knew they weren't going to come in here and lay down. I think it shows we're a tough team because we weathered some storms when they went on runs, and we didn't hang our head. We kept battling and fighting."

Florida coach Billy Donovan on the win:
"I thought a huge factor in the game was going to be our ability to guard them from the three-point line. I think when you extend like that with their speed and quickness, you're going to get beat off the dribble and go at some drives. But I thought we did as good a job as we could have done guarding the three."

Auburn's Frankie Sullivan on team's cold 3-point shooting:
"I think we just missed wide open looks. We were wide open half of the time we shot the basketball. It just wouldn't go down for us tonight."

Auburn coach Jeff Lebo on senior Tay Waller being held scoreless:
"He was heartbroken after the game. It's hard to say something to somebody after a game like that. But that's what I told him, I'm proud of him. He's given us a lot of great memories, and tonight just wasn't his night."

Notes
*Florida won the battle of points off turnovers, 15-4. The Gators finished the game with only seven turnovers to tie their season low.

*The Gators are the first team to hold Waller scoreless this season. Against SEC play, Waller came in averaging a team-high 17.4 points per game.

Next Up
Florida will take on West No. 1 seed Mississippi State in the quarterfinals Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT. For complete coverage of the tournament, go to SECsports.com.