Team Highlights and Milestones
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Game 29 u March 7, 2002 u Atlanta, Ga. Florida vs. Auburn u UF earned a share of its third consecutive SEC Eastern Division Title Tip 7:37 p.m. ET u UF is making its 37th SEC Tournament Appearance Site Georgia Dome (cap. 26,000) TV Jefferson Pilot Sports.Tim Despite a 70-67 heartbreaking loss to Kentucky on Saturday, Florida still claimed its third- Brando and Barry Booker call the straight SEC Eastern Division Championship after Tennessee’s overtime win over action. Scott Snyder produces. Georgia...Florida shares the SEC Eastern Division crown with Kentucky and Georgia at 10- Radio Gator Radio Network. Mick 6...UF now owns four Eastern Division Titles in school history...Only Kentucky (8) has more Hubert and Mark Wise call the divisional titles since the league went into a split format in 1992 (Arkansas also has four)...Tubby action and Steve Woodard Smith (4) is the only active SEC coach to have more divisional titles than Donovan’s produces. three...Florida has won 20 or more games in four consecutive seasons for the first time in school Coaches Billy Donovan is 123-63 in his history and its 21 regular season wins is tied for the fourth best in school history...UF owns six sixth season at Florida and 158- 20-plus regular win seasons in school history and three have come under Donovan...UF posted 86 in his eighth year as a head double digit conference wins for the fourth consecutive season for only the second time in coach. Cliff Ellis is 150-98 in his school history (the other time was from 1986-89, however, the league had an 18-game format)...UF eighth season at AU and is 498- has dropped six of its seven games by a total of 17 points and its average margin of defeat this 309 in his 27-year career. year is 4.8 ppg, the lowest in school history (the 1942-43 team lost its seven games by an Tickets Available. Call 1-800-590-6098 average of 5.5 ppg)...Four of Florida’s SEC losses have been decided by three points or less Up Next March 8 vs. Mississippi State at and five of the six were by five points or less...Outside of the 17-point loss to Ole Miss, UF has 7:30 p.m. (if UF wins tonight) not trailed by more than 10 points in game all year...UF’s last three games have been decided by a total of 10 points...Six UF games this year have come down to the final possession...UF has won five of the last seven meetings with Auburn....Donovan is 5-3 vs. the Tigers. Gators in the SEC Tournament Starting Lineup UF will be making its 37th SEC Tournament appearance...UF is 19-36 in SEC Tournament Florida Gators (21-7, 10-6 SEC) play, including 15-21 in first round No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown PPG/RPG action...UF has won seven of its last eight 15 Matt Bonner F 6-10 237 Jr. Concord, N.H. 16.4/7.3 SEC opening round games and four in a 50 Udonis Haslem C 6-9 246 Sr. Miami, Fla. 16.1/8.4 row...UF has advanced to the Champion- 10 Brett Nelson G 6-4 182 Jr. St. Albans, W. Va. 14.3/3.3a ship game three times, falling to Alabama in 12 Justin Hamilton G 6-3 207 Jr. Sarasota, Fla. 8.4/3.9a the 1934 and 1989 Championships and also 01 Orien Greene G 6-4 200 So. Gainesville, Fla. 5.4/2.9 to Kentucky in the '94 title tilt...For a game- Auburn Tigers (12-15, 4-12 SEC) by-game look at UF in the SEC Tournament, No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown PPG/RPG see page 157 of the Florida Media 3 Marquis Daniels F 6-6 200 Jr. Orlando, Fla. 11.2/5.2 Guide...Nine Florida players have been named to the SEC All-Tournament team, 4 Marco Killingsworth F 6-8 240 Fr. Montgomery, Ala. 7.9/4.3 with Livingston Chatman being named 23 Dwayne Mitchell G 6-4 195 Fr. New Orleans, La. 3.3/2.4 Tourney MVP in 1989...Guard Craig Brown 11 Derrick Bird G 6-4 195 Jr. Ypsilanti, Minn. 10.7/3.2 is the last Gator to be named to the SEC All- 22 Lewis Monroe G 6-5 190 Fr. Madison, Wis. 2.5/2.2 Tournament team in 1994...For a complete list of Florida Gators named to the SEC All- Tournament team, see page 177 of the Team Highlights and Milestones Florida Media Guide....Florida SEC Tourna- ment records and a complete look at UF u Brett Nelson’s 55 three pointers in con- u Florida has canned 21 three pointers player career stats in the SEC Tournament since 1979 can be found later in this ference play this season is the best single- during the last two contests...The Gators release...Billy Donovan is 4-5 in SEC Tour- season effort (SEC games only) in school shot 50 percent (8-of-16) from beyond the nament action and sports a 5-7 record in his history...His 122 attempts this season in arc vs. Kentucky...UF has shot 50 percent career in conference tournament league play also ranks first in school his- or better from the three point range four games...Florida is the No. 3 seed in the East tory. times this year, including back-to-back for the fifth time since 1992 and has only games (Tennessee and Kentucky). received a first-round bye three times (1992, u Udonis Haslem’s 98 free throws in SEC 1994 and 2001)...Florida is 2-2 vs. the Au- action this season is the best single-sea- burn Tigers in the SEC Tournament, with son effort (SEC games only) in school two of those four meetings coming in the history...His 142 free throw attempts in SEC last five years. play also ranks first in school history. Schedule and Results Scouting Auburn u Date Opponent Results/Time Head coach Cliff Ellis has started four freshmen in three of the last six games and are 2-1 with 11/1 Birmingham Bullets (England) W, 108-85 the “Tiger Tots” starting...Junior Adam Harrington has been the Tigers leading scorer in five 11/8-9 IKON Coaches vs. Cancer Classic consecutive games and is averaging 15.0 ppg during that stretch...AU is 2-3 vs. ranked oppo- No. 16 Temple W, 72-64 11/9 Arizona L, 71-75 nents, beating then-No. 14 Alabama and then-No. 17 Georgia...Head coach Cliff Ellis is two 11/16 Florida State (DH) W, 68-47 victories away from reaching 500 career wins...The Tigers rank second in the SEC in field goal 11/19 EA Sports All-Stars L, 96-100 11/28 New Hampshire W, 108-56 defense (.399) and ranks second in three point field goal defense (.300). 12/2 Tulane W, 81-65 12/5 No. 24Michigan State W, 74-70 12/ 8 South Florida W, 92-73 Last Time Out 12/15 Orange Bowl Basketball Classic vs. Charlotte W, 73-52 u The Gators clinched a share of the SEC Eastern Division Title despite a 70-67 loss to 12/18 High Point (DH) W, 103-49 Kentucky...Brett Nelson scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting...Nelson canned 12/22 New Orleans W, 76-60 12/28 Stetson (DH) W, 94-66 five of his nine three pointers...Florida shot 50 percent (8-of-16) from beyond the arc for the 12/30 Belmont W, 107-55 second consecutive game...Florida shot 45 percent to Kentucky's 41 percent from the field, but 1/5 South Carolina W, 69-60 1/ 9 Tennessee W, 104-100 the Wildcats outrebounded the Gators 37-31 and scored 24 points off 16 Florida turnovers...UF 1/12 Vanderbilt W, 95-85 made its first 5-of-5 from three point land in the first half...UF put together an 8-0 run in the 1/16 LSU W, 102-70 1/19 No. 20 Georgia L, 79-84 beginning of the first half to take the lead, 22-11...UK was down by as much as 13 points...The 1/26 Arkansas L, 92-94 OT Wildcats used a 17-4 run to tie the game, 31-31, with seven minutes remaining in the first 1/29 No. 10 Kentucky L, 68-70 half...Florida led by two (41-39) at halftime...UF shot 52 percent (17-of-33) from the field in the 2/2 Mississippi State W, 76-48 2/5 South Carolina W, 72-63 first half, while holding Kentucky to 43 percent shooting...Kentucky went on an 11-2 run to 2/9 Vanderbilt W, 80-54 open up the second half and take the lead, 50-43...The Gators trailed the Wildcats until Udonis 2/12 No. 21 Georgia W, 85-70 2/16 Ole Miss L, 51-68 Haslem went to the line and made two free throws to spark a 12-2 Gator run to regain the lead, 61- 2/20 Auburn W, 89-61 59...Cliff Hawkins’s two free throws with 12 seconds left sealed the victory for UK...Four Gators 2/23 No. 5Alabama L, 64-65 2/26 Tennessee W, 68-62 scored in double figures for the fourth straight game (Nelson, 23; Matt Bonner, 16; Justin 3/2 No.