SAN ANTONIO (EETV) – Auburn Men’s Basketball took on the Florida Gators in the NCAA Men’s Final Four on Saturday. Despite a close, hard-fought game between the two squads, Auburn couldn’t hold on down the stretch and fell 73-79, bringing the Tigers’ season to an end.
Auburn started the game strong, running through Johni Broome and Chadn Baker-Mazara early. The two accounted for 14 of the first 18 Auburn points of the night and helped Auburn hold a slim lead.
While Auburn’s offense was running efficiently, the Tiger defense struggled to find a rhythm, allowing the Gators to keep pace. Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin led the Florida scoring early, scoring 20 of the first 29 Florida points.
Despite Florida’s skill on the perimeter, the Gators were unable to match Auburn down low for much of the first half. The Tigers utilized their size and physicality in the paint to help pull away as the half progressed, eventually holding a 46-38 lead at halftime.
Despite the lead, there were areas that were lingering as potential issues for the Tigers. Auburn had forced five Florida turnovers in the first half, but was unable to score off of any of them. The Tigers also shot just 4-15 in the first half from three, Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly each making two.
Florida came out of the locker room hot, flying into a 13-3 run at the start of the half that included an 11-0 run led by the Gator guards. Meanwhile, the Florida defense locked down.
The Auburn attack that had turned it over just twice in the opening minutes became a turnover machine in the second half, giving the ball away twelve times, something that was a glaring issue to Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl following the game.
“I take responsibility for 12 turnovers in the second half,” Pearl said. “It's just impossible to either explain or to think that you can win turning the ball over a little bit.”
While Auburn struggled to hold onto the ball, Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. was having zero trouble sending it through the net. Clayton, who had already amassed 14 points in the first half, racked up a further 20 in the second half to finish as the game’s leading scorer with 34.
The performance made Clayton the first player with back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four since Larry Bird in 1979. Auburn guard Denver Jones was asked after the game what makes the Gators’ star so difficult to contain.
“Honestly, just, you know what I'm saying, doing a lot of dribble handoffs, a lot of actions just run through him,” Jones said. “Just constantly moving. I feel like that is just what gave me some of the looks he had tonight.”
As the game wound down, Clayton continued to hit tough shot after tough shot for the Gators, and Auburn was unable to find enough offense to answer. The Tigers couldn’t get many open looks against the relentless Florida defense, and they struggled to knock down those they did get.
In the end, Auburn just didn’t have enough and found itself staring up at a six point deficit on the scoreboard as the final buzzer sounded, ending the Tigers’ season in the national semifinals in San Antonio.
The leading scorer of the night for Auburn was Chad Baker-Mazara. The fifth-year wing racked up 18 points, including four threes on the way to his best performance of the tournament. Close behind Baker-Mazara was Johni Broome, who put up 15 points and seven rebounds in his final game as an Auburn Tiger.
The season, though it didn’t result in a National Championship, was a record-breaking one for this Auburn squad. It set a new program wins for wins in a season with 32 wins and made the Final Four for just the second time in program history, something that Coach Pearl reflected on after the game.
“I'm really proud of my team, how these guys made history, the best basketball team in the history of Auburn basketball,” Coach Pearl said. “They gave us a ride that won't ever be forgotten.”
