Nothing that’s happened during Auburn’s first three SEC games has surprised coach Tony Barbee.

Not the painfully slow starts, not the crippling halftime deficits, not the double-digit losses to Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Barbee knew it would be a trying season for his young team, and the SEC isn’t a very forgiving conference.

“It’s what I expected,” Barbee said on the league’s weekly teleconference Monday. “There’s such great coaches in this league and they do a great job preparing their teams. You’ve got some very talented individuals in this league that are hard to play against.”

Since riding into conference play on a four-game winning streak, the Tigers (7-10, 0-3 SEC) have suffered a bout of atrocious first halves against conference competition.

Auburn has averaged 16.3 points in the first 20 minutes against SEC foes, shooting a sickly 21.3 percent from the field.

Barbee said the challenge of reversing this trend is far from merely a physical one.

“The psyche anyway is fragile when you have such a youthful team. You get on a little bit of a losing streak and it can compound sometimes when you have a young team,” Barbee said. “But that’s what we talk about in this program: mental toughness. You’ve got to be mentally tough and persevere through these tough times.”

Things don’t get easier for the Tigers tonight when they face Florida (13-4, 2-1) at home tonight, airing at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

The Gators had won five in a row before an upset 72-69 loss to South Carolina on Saturday.

They’re still outscoring opponents by nearly 10 points per game this season and shooting at a healthy 46.9-percent clip.

Florida has four starters averaging double figures this season: 5-foot-8 guard Erving Walker (14.5 ppg), 6-2 guard Kenny Boynton (12.6 ppg), 6-10 center Vernon Macklin (10.9 ppg) and 6-9 forward Chandler Parsons (10.6 ppg).

With Andre Malone leaving the team in December, only Earnest Ross (12.4 ppg) averages double figures for the Tigers.

“Florida is a very talented and very experienced team,” Barbee said. “They have five guys averaging in double figures in conference play which is always tough to defend when you have five guys who can score at any given time.”

Auburn does have the home-court advantage going for it tonight, complete with national TV exposure, a T-shirt giveaway and a halftime performance by popular act Quick Change to bring out the fans.

“We had a difficult week this week, playing at two very tough places to play on the road,” Barbee said. “Hopefully coming back home we’ll be able to play with a little more confidence, especially on the offensive end of the floor.”

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