Just call today's game with Auburn "The Saturday Shabbat"
- Franz Beard
- Jan 24
- 6 min read
There are folks calling the O-Dome matchup (4 p.m., ESPN) between Auburn (12-7, 3-3 SEC) and 16th-ranked Florida (14-5, 5-1 SEC) “The Saturday Shabbat” as Todd Golden faces best friend Steven Pearl.
“We've been great friends since my 21st birthday,” Golden said Friday before the Gators began preparations for Auburn. “We played on teams in Australia and Israel together and, obviously, my first experience coaching at the high major level was with him and Bruce at Auburn in 2014 … So they're like family to us.”
Like brothers almost. Golden says Bruce Pearl, who handed over the reins to the Auburn program to Steven a few short weeks before the season began, “is kind of like a second father.”
Family love is a wonderful thing, but Pearl put the game in perspective Thursday when he said, “It doesn't mean I don't want to go down there and kick his ass.”
Golden feels the same way.
This is the first time Golden and Steven Pearl will be facing each other as head coach adversaries. This is Golden’s seventh year as a head coach, fourth at Florida (90-38 record). Golden lost to Auburn and Bruce Pearl in the SEC Tournament championship game in 2024. A season ago, Golden and the Gators got a road win over then No. 1 Auburn, then a win over the Tigers in the NCAA semifinals in San Antonio. It was the last game for Bruce Pearl as Auburn’s head coach, but the future Hall of Famer did get to see his “second son” and protégé Todd Golden win the national championship two nights later.
Steven Pearl was an assistant coach on those teams, but now as the head honcho he has endured some early season losses and now has a team that seems to have found its identity. Just as Florida absorbed pre-SEC losses to highly ranked teams such as Arizona, UConn and Duke, Auburn took it on the chin to Houston, Michigan, Arizona and Purdue. Just as Florida has righted the ship now that the SEC portion of the schedule has kicked in, Pearl has Auburn starting to find its way. The Tigers have won three of their last four, one of which was a blowout win of then 15th-ranked Arkansas.
“They won three out of the last four, two really big wins with South Carolina at home and then on the road at Ole Miss, which is a really hard place to play. And, you know, I think they're kind of rounding in the form at the right time.”
Critical for the Gators will be finding a way to neutralize UCF transfer Keyshawn Hall, who leads the team in scoring (20.1) and rebounding (7.6). Hall is a dynamic offensive threat, a 40 percent 3-point shooter who gets to the foul line where he rarely misses (86.7 percent). Tahaad Pettiford, who came off the bench for Auburn’s Final Four team a season ago, is scoring 13.9 per game but he’s shooting a disappointing 27 percent from the 3-point line. A year ago he hit 36.6 percent, so it’s probably just a matter of time before he breaks out of his slump.
The Gators come into today’s game on the heels of one of their better defensive efforts of the season. Tuesday night they held LSU to 61 points and limited the Tigers to just 11 3-point shots. Led by Rueben Chinyelu, the SEC’s leading rebounder (11.2 per game) who grabbed 21, the Gators grabbed 50 missed shots including 24 on the offensive end. Florida leads the nation in rebounding (46.53 per game), offensive rebounds (17.16) and rebounding margin (+15).
In winning the last five games, the Gators have done an exceptional job of running opponents off the 3-point line and making them shoot 2-point shots. Only Vanderbilt has been able to heave up more than 20 threes (22). The last five opponents have managed to launch only 83 threes, an average of 16.5 per game. That is one of the reasons why the Gators are the No. 11 team in the country in defensive efficiency per the kenpom.com analytics.
Rebounding and keeping Auburn from heating up from the 3-point line will likely be the difference-makers today. If the Gators succeed in dominating the backboards and keeping shooters like Hall and Pettiford from getting open looks from three, then it is very likely Florida will win its sixth straight SEC game and 10thin 11 games.
GOLDEN ON THE CHARLES BEDIAKO SITUATION
The Gators will face Alabama at the O-Dome a week from Sunday. When asked on Gator Talk Thursday night what he thought about a Tuscaloosa judge issuing a temporary restraining order that allows Charles Bediako to play immediately even though he’s been out of school for two years while playing in the G-League, Golden said, “If he plays, we’ll beat them anyway.”
Golden, like most coaches in the Southeastern Conference and around the nation, is not happy with the precedent of allowing someone who declared for the NBA draft and played two years professionally of coming back to college at midseason.
“I think at some point we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do about this thing,” Golden said Friday. “… It’s only ridiculous because the declaration for the draft and staying in and signing contracts and coming back, that's what makes it ridiculous or just not standard for the NCAA.”
ANTICIPATED STARTING LINEUPS
No. 16 FLORIDA (14-5, 5-1 SEC): Alex Condon (6-11, 236, JR); Rueben Chinyelu (6-11, 265, JR); Tommy Haugh (6-9, 215, JR); Boogie Fland (6-3, 185, SO); Xaivian Lee (6-4, 185, SR)
Auburn (12-7, 3-3 SEC): Keyshawn Hall (6-7, 240, SR); KeShawn Murphy (6-10, 230, SR); Sebastian Williams-Adams (6-8, 230, FR); Elyjah Freeman (6-8, 185, SO); Tahaad Pettiford (6-1, 170, SO)
Today’s games
Auburn (12-7, 3-3 SEC) at No. 16 FLORIDA (14-5, 5-1 SEC)
No. 15 Vanderbilt (16-3, 3-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (10-9, 2-4 SEC)
Tennessee (12-6, 2-3 SEC) at No. 17 Alabama (13-5, 3-2 SEC)
LSU (13-6, 1-5 SEC) at No. 20 Arkansas (14-5, 4-2 SEC)
No. 21 Georgia (16-3, 4-2 SEC) at Texas (11-8, 2-4 SEC)
South Carolina (11-8, 2-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-4, 5-1 SEC)
Ole Miss (11-8, 3-3 SEC) at Kentucky (13-6, 4-2 SEC)
Oklahoma (11-8, 1-5 SEC) at Missouri (13-6, 3-3 SEC)
WORST TO FIRST IN THE SEC
16. Oklahoma (11-8, 1-5 SEC): Five straight losses have the Sooner faithful feeling rather restless.
15. South Carolina (11-8, 2-4 SEC): South Carolina has lost three of the last four, the only win at home against Oklahoma. They could get blown out by the Aggies.
14. Mississippi State (10-9, 2-4 SEC): Josh Hubbard isn’t making shots, which means the Bulldogs aren’t winning. They’ve lost four in a row and Vandy comes to town today.
13. LSU (13-6, 1-5 SEC): The Tigers hope that Dedan Thomas gets back to full speed and health so they can make a run at an NCAA bid in the second half of the SEC schedule. Without him at full speed, they’re toast.
12. Ole Miss (11-8, 3-3 SEC): The Rebels should be road kill at Rupp.
11. Texas (11-8, 2-4 SEC): It’s not too early to be thinking NCAA resumes. Texas really needs a win against Georgia today. They’re 3-5 in Quad 1 games.
10. Missouri (13-6, 3-3 SEC): Who knows which Missouri team will show up on any given night. The Tigers really can’t afford to lose to Okie today.
9. Auburn (12-7, 3-3 SEC): Auburn desperately needs to beat Florida today. Ain’t gonna happen.
8. Tennessee (12-6, 2-3 SEC): You can figure everyone in the SEC will be cheering for the Vols at Bama, now the league villain for playing a pro.
7. Arkansas (14-5, 4-2 SEC): The Hogs are home today. That means they’ll win.
6. Alabama (13-5, 3-2 SEC): Charles Bediako will play. He scored five points in a G-League game back on Saturday. That Bama needs a 7-foot pro to come back to college should tell you how desperate the Tide is for someone who can defend the paint.
5. Vanderbilt (16-3, 3-3 SEC): Mississippi State should be a get well game for the Commodores, who have lost three in a row.
4. Texas A&M (15-4, 5-1 SEC): The Aggies are really good against the bottom feeders. South Carolina should be easy pickings, but then the schedule gets tough.
3. Kentucky (13-6, 4-2 SEC): The Wildcats have lost their two point guards, so it’s Denzel Aberdeen’s team to run now. If he gets in foul trouble or injured, there will be big trouble.
2. Georgia (16-3, 4-2 SEC): The Bulldogs are at Texas, a chance for a Quad 1 win that they seriously need (2-2 in Quad 1 games so far).
1. FLORIDA (14-5, 5-1 SEC): The analytics at kenpom.com have the Gators favored to win all 12 of the SEC games remaining on the schedule.
Book Signing Today
Prestige Auto on SR 200 in Ocala will host Franz Beard for a book signing of his chronicle of Florida's NCAA championship today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
we came out flat and could not make a free throw or a 3 pointer- I am sorry they every allowed the 3 point shot as we had guys who9 got the ball in the paint who had a decent shot but they kicked it out to the side for the 3 and we could not hit the broadside of a barn door today