From Florida’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center, the drought continued for Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers.

Ahead of Saturday’s matchup with the Gators, Pearl offered a history lesson, painting the picture of just how long it had been since Auburn men’s basketball team left Gainesville with a win.

“Steven Pearl was 7 (years old). Mike Burgomaster was 2 (years old). Chad Prewett was in his second year of coaching high school basketball. Ira Bowman was a player at Penn. Bill Clinton was president. Monica (Lewinsky) was still his intern. Gas was $1.22,” Pearl said, referring to 1996. “And that was the last time we beat Florida at Florida. That’s a long, long time ago.”

And after No. 12 Auburn suffered a 81-65 loss to Florida on Saturday, the wait continues.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s action on Billy Donovan Court.

Auburn suffers abysmal start

Auburn’s start in Gainesville Saturday afternoon felt largely reminiscent of its start against Ole Miss on Feb. 3 — except worse.

After winning the opening tipoff, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. hit a crowd-erupting three-pointer for the first points of the game. The Gators then went onto score six more points before the Tigers made their first basket, which came courtesy of a Johni Broome dunk.

In the opening five and a half minutes, Florida jetted out to a 13-2 lead as Auburn opened the game with a 1-for-7 shooting effort, including an 0-for-5 effort from beyond the arc.

After falling into an 11-point hole, the Tigers’ offense settled in some, but was still outscored 26-24 down the stretch of the first half, paving the way for Florida to take a 42-26 lead into half time.

In addition to Auburn’s game-opening dry spell, the Tigers also committed eight first-half turnovers after only tallying five over the course of the entire game against No. 16 Alabama on Wednesday evening. Florida capitalized on Auburn’s struggles with ball security as the Gators logged 11 points off of turnovers in the first half.

Florida stifles Auburn’s front court

After Wednesday’s win over Alabama, Pearl said Auburn’s starting front court, which is made up of Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams, might have inserted itself into the conversation as one of the country’s best front courts.

Against the Crimson Tide, Broome and Williams combined for 50 points — a career-high 26 for Williams and 24 for Broome.

Come Saturday against the Gators, however, Auburn’s duo of big men was largely ineffective as Florida’s defense clamped down on Broome and Williams.

At the midway point, Broome and Williams had combined for just five points — all coming from Broome.

Williams, meanwhile, coming off the best game of his five-year career at Auburn, didn’t score his first points until the 18:10 mark of the second half after an 0-for-6 start from the field.

At the game’s final whistle, Broome and Williams had tallied just a combined 20 points on a 9-for-21 shooting performance.

Florida’s trend of strong offense at home continues

Coming into Saturday’s matchup, Florida had lost just one game from the comfort of its own home — an 87-85 loss to the then-sixth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats.

Simply put, the Gators play well at home. And Pearl knew they likely would.

“They’re the No. 2 offensive rebounding team in the nation,” Pearl said of the Gators Friday. “And if you take their home offensive numbers, they’re the seventh-best offense in the country, if it’s just at home.”

Florida tallied 15 offensive rebounds against Auburn and logged 12 second-chance points.

But that wasn’t really the difference-maker Saturday considering the Tigers held their own in those two categories with 14 offensive boards and 14 second-chance points of their own.

Instead, it was Auburn’s inability to get stops on defense that spurned the Tigers.

Against Auburn, Florida’s pair of starting guards in Zyon Pullin and Clayton Jr. combined for 39 points with Pullin leading the way with 20 points. Together, the Gators’ back court strung together a 11-for-27 shooting effort.

By comparison, Auburn’s pair of starting guards in Tre Donaldson and Denver Jones combined for just 14 points on a 5-for-11 shooting effort.