Lebo’s team has been here before

AUBURN — Five years later and little has changed.

Florida is still winning.

Auburn is still losing.

Florida is still hitting the clutch shots.

Auburn is still missing the clutch shots.

Florida is hitting free throws.

Auburn is missing free throws.

Jeff Lebo coached his first home SEC game against Florida five years ago, and his Tigers fell in overtime.

As I sat and watched that game five seasons ago, I figured the Lebo years to come at Auburn would be filled with excitement and more wins than losses.

The energetic coach had his patchwork team playing with fight and enthusiasm, even if they didn’t have the size or talent to match up with Florida.

I saw the same sort of things Wednesday at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum as Auburn dropped a 68-65 decision to Florida in the Tigers’ first SEC home game of the year.

But unlike five years ago, now I’m not real confident Lebo will ever get this thing turned around.

Has anything really changed for the better since he took over for the ousted Cliff Ellis?

Auburn is still undersized for an SEC team. The team still battles like a prized fighter. I’ll give Lebo credit for having his team play with heart.

But a team which has somewhat of a veteran lineup shouldn’t be still struggling in so many phases of the game.

I’ll point a finger at Lebo for that.

It was only because Florida didn’t play particularly well, either, that Auburn had a chance down the stretch to pull off the victory.

Thanks in large part to senior guard Rasheem Barrett hitting 11 straight points for the Tigers — including a 3-pointer to give his team a 55-54 lead — hopes of an upset were amazingly within reach.

But Florida’s Erving Walker nailed a 3-pointer to give the Gators back the lead, and Auburn would ultimately lose any chance it had at the free-throw line.

Ah, the free-throw line.

When’s the last time you can recall Auburn being a good free-throw shooting team.

I certainly can’t remember any time under Lebo’s watch.

Senior guard Tez Robertson stood at the free throw line on two separate occasions with Florida holding the 57-55 advantage.

Each time, he missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity.

In a nutshell, that’s where Auburn lost the game — at the charity stripe.

You want to beat Auburn, just put ’em on the line.

Both teams made 25 field goals in the game. Both teams made but five 3-pointers.

At the free-throw line, Florida hit 13-of-19 tries.

At the free-throw line, Auburn hit 10-of-21 tries.

So what can Auburn do in practice to correct such a flaw?

“We do all kinds of stuff,” Lebo said. “It’s been my experience when you really have to focus on free throws, you have a problem — it becomes a mental battle.”

Well, Auburn does have a free-throw shooting problem, mental or not.

As Barrett talked about what the team had to do to get ready for Saturday’s home game against rival Alabama, senior Korvotney Barber chimed in some wise words before Barrett could finish speaking.

“And work on our free throws,” Barber suggested.

Indeed.