AUBURN | Johni Broome read his coach's comments about being sick and tired of his teams getting dominated by Colin Castleton. The Auburn center took that to heart.

Broome, along with Dylan Cardwell, held the Gators' center to six points on 1-of-6 shooting from the floor as Auburn pulled out a 61-58 victory over Florida in the SEC opener in Neville Arena.

"You know, coming into the game, coming into Auburn, those are one of the game you had circled on the calendar," Broome said. "Good matchup. He's a good player. But the main goal of the game plan was to stop him."

With Castleton on the floor for 16 minutes in the first half, Auburn's defense ensured someone else would have to beat them. The 6-foot-11 center attempted just one field goal, a miss, and scored two points from the free-throw line as the Gators held a 26-23 lead going into the break.

It was more of the same in the last 20 minutes as the preseason All-SEC pick never got into a rhythm. Castleton's only field goal of the game came at the 19:41 mark in the second half on a dunk. He missed his final four shots while making two free throws.

Bruce Pearl was proud of how Broome stood up to the challenge.

"I'm glad Johni took that personally," the Auburn coach said. "I'm glad he did; that's what players should (do)."

Broome was also effective on the offensive side of the court, tying Wendell Green for a team-high 14 points while pulling down 11 rebounds and recording four assists (a team-high) to just one turnover. It reminded Pearl of what Broome could accomplish in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"Johni knows how to act and feel and play like the best player on the floor," Pearl said. "Because when he was at Morehead State, he did that for a couple of years. He knows how to do that every night. He knows how to prepare that way, act that way, play that way. Now he's translating it to the SEC level, really, in the last few games."

But, as the Auburn coach is known to do, he will still push Broome to become that dominant player he thinks he can be.

"I mean, I'm on him, and I ain't getting off him," Pearl said. "He's gotten a lot better, his energy, his effectiveness. Obviously, I trust him."