Florida First Up for AU

Auburn's preparations for its opening game in the Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament are centered around a defensive strategy for stopping Florida's long-range shooters.

Gator outside shooting threat Greg Stolt

The Gators have made 262 three-pointers, an average of 10.2 per contest this season. Florida's 40.9 three-point shooting percentage is by far the best in the league. Tennessee is number two at 38.3 while Auburn is ninth at 33.2 percent with 181 treys made.

Gator forwards Kenyan Weaks and Greg Stolt, at 51.5 percent shooting, are the league's only two players who are hitting better than 50 percent of their three-pointers. "That is impressive," says Auburn coach Cliff Ellis, who brings a 15-12 team to the Georgia Dome to face 13-13 Florida. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. Central in Atlanta.

The Gators contributed to their impressive three-point statistics by making 14-30 in an 81-64 victory over the Tigers on Feb. 11th at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville. However, the man who made eight of those shots, point guard Jason Williams, has been kicked off the team and is not expected to be back. That makes Eddie Shannon the lead guard for the Gators and Ellis says the Gators have talent even without Williams. "Eddie Shannon is still a strong player," Ellis says. "He played point guard for two years before Williams was there." Shannon and Stolt each average 11.8 points per game and Weaks averages 11.9.

Auburn has two players in the league's Top 10 three-point shooting statistics. Daymeon Fishback is sixth at 42.6 percent and fellow sophomore Doc Robinson is eighth at 39.7. Both players are keys to whatever success the Tigers will have in Atlanta with leading scorer Bryant Smith still not 100 percent since severely spraining an ankle against LSU on Feb. 14th. Auburn has not won since that game, dropping four straight with losses at Vandy, at 16th-ranked Arkansas, at home to seventh-ranked Kentucky and at 10th-ranked Ole Miss.

Despite Ellis still talking about the possibility of an NCAA bid for his Tigers, at 7-9 in league play and the late season losing streak, Auburn probably isn't going to the NCAA Tournament unless it wins four straight in Atlanta. Ellis contends that two or three victories in the SEC Tournament could put the Tigers into the Big Dance, however, with just seven available scholarship players, anything more than a win against Florida would be a surprise. Four straight victories would be a minor miracle.

Ellis says that suspended junior guard Derek Caldwell and freshman forward Randy Hughes will not play in the SEC Tournament, nor any postseason play. Auburn has a solid chance of landing its third National Invitational Tournament berth in its four seasons with Ellis as head coach. It is still unclear if either one will be back next season for violation of unspecified team rules.