AUBURN | K.D. Johnson entered Saturday’s night against Florida struggling to do what he does best: score. In No. 9 Auburn’s previous five games, the sophomore had only put up double digits in points once, including a season-low two against South Carolina on Tuesday.

That scoring drought ended in a big way as Johnson posted 23 points, including 15 in the second half, as the Tigers pulled away from the Gators in an 85-73 victory.

“We don’t win without K.D., period,” Bruce Pearl said. "He's a dangerous man. He just is."

The guard came through with some clutch baskets in the second half as Florida had cut Auburn’s lead to two with 7:08 left. After Wendell Green Jr. drove to the rim for a layup to double the lead, Johnson had the ball on the next possession and drained a three-pointer at the 5:52 mark to make it a seven-point advantage.

Johnson wanted the ball in his hands, and his coach obliged.

"My confidence was high the whole game," the guard said. "After I hit a couple of threes, I started feeling it. Then BP decided to just keep feeding it to me so my confidence went even more up after that."

The Tigers never led by less than five again as Johnson continued to take advantage of his ability to get to the rim. Johnson scored nine points in the game’s final 2:32, including Auburn’s last seven.

"He did a great job getting downhill," Pearl said. "And they can't stay in front of him."