History is just 40 minutes away.
For the 2024-25 Auburn Tigers to make that history, that means getting past arguably the toughest team in the Southeastern Conference in the first of Saturday’s national semifinals in the Alamodome in San Antonio… the Florida Gators.
Auburn knows plenty about Florida, and Florida knows plenty about Auburn. The Tigers had won 14-straight and were the No. 1 team in America when Florida traveled to The Plains on Feb. 8. The result was a 90-81 Gators victory at Neville Arena that felt at the time like a Final Four-level game.
Much like Duke had done in taking down Auburn on Dec. 4, Florida overcame an early double-digit deficit to help simmer the raucous Tigers student section down and ended up draining 13 3-pointers – 6 more than Auburn could produce.
Walter Clayton Jr. and Alex Condon delivered for Florida that afternoon, overcoming another stellar effort by Naismith and Wooden Player of the Year finalist Broome (18 points, 11 rebounds) to drop 19 and 17 points, respectively. Florida’s 90 points were almost 7 points over their season average and was also the most by an Auburn opponent inside Neville Arena all season.
So what will it take for the Tigers to get past the Gators and into their first national championship game? Here are 3 keys to an Auburn victory:
1. Stay healthy
Auburn is already in a much better position health-wise than the only other time it was in this position – in 2019 when the banged-up Tigers made a run to the national semifinals only to lose 63-62 to eventual national champ Virginia. In that NCAA Tournament run (Auburn’s only other march to a Final Four), the Tigers survived a first-round scare against New Mexico State and downed Kentucky in overtime in the regional finals.
That isn’t to say the Tigers are 100%. Broome injured both his left leg and right elbow in the 70-64 victory against Michigan State and has reportedly missed some practice time before heading to San Antonio.
The 6-10 Broome (18.7 points per game on 51.2% shooting to go with 10.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 blocks per outing) is the engine that makes Auburn go, and coach Bruce Pearl indicated Monday that he expects Broome to be in the starting lineup Saturday night against the Gators.
“He’s sore,” Pearl told Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman. “We didn’t practice (Monday), and we’ll practice (Tuesday), but Johni won’t practice. He’s sore, but I fully expect him to play on Saturday.”
2. Keep the past in the past
This refers both to Feb. 8 and to 2019, both disappointing reminders that even the best Tiger teams can be upended. In the mighty Southeastern Conference, Auburn didn’t escape unscathed even though it did win the regular-season title – losing in the tournament semifinals to Tennessee.
Six years ago, it was Virginia’s Kyle Guy who shoved a stake through Auburn hearts when he was (controversially) fouled attempting a 3-pointer with less than a second to play. Down 2 points, Guy went to the line after a review put 0.6 seconds on the clock and calmly swished all 3 free throws for the win.
For Auburn to overcome the Gators, neither the scar tissue from those SEC losses or the institutional horrors that came from 2019 can bubble to the surface.
3. Bottle up Walter Clayton Jr.
A fellow All-American, Florida’s dynamic Clayton has been just as strong at his position as Broome has been at his. Clayton has dropped 22.3 points per game in this NCAA Tournament, and he laid 30 points on Texas Tech in the Elite Eight.
Clayton was great against Auburn on Feb. 8, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the first half to help Florida to just the second victory by an Auburn visitor all season. Florida is 14-1 since that victory, losing only at unranked Georgia 88-83 on Feb. 25, and has notched impressive wins in the NCAA Tournament against Norfolk State, 2-time defending champion UConn, Maryland and Texas Tech.
And while Clayton isn’t Florida’s primary rebounding threat, he still is a part of a Gators unit that is fourth in the NCAA Tournament in offensive rebounding – as UF has generated countless second-chance opportunities when the offense is out of rhythm.
Just as Broome is the catalyst for Auburn, Clayton (18.1 ppg, 4.2 apg, 3.6 rpg, 1.2 steals per game) is for Florida… so much so that he joined Broome this week as a finalist for the Wooden Award for the National Player of the Year in addition to already being on the Naismith finalist list.
Auburn basketball: 3 things the Tigers should worry about against Florida Saturday Down South.
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