Florida Chomps Down On Auburn In Second Half To Secure National Title Berth

The Final Four semifinal was delivered on Saturday night in a magnificent way, as Florida defeated Auburn 79-73 in what was a back-and-forth street fight for forty minutes inside the Alamodome. 

A packed house, with two teams from the SEC battling for a spot in the national title game on Monday night, was certainly one to remember. Thanks to a monster night from the field, Walter Clayton Jr. put himself in the category of best Final Four performance, with 32 points against a tough Auburn defense that relied on Johni Broome in the paint. 

This was obviously not the stage for some Cinderella that would've been beaten into the ground by either one of these teams, but thankfully we did not have to worry about what transpired in the women's tournament. 

Over the past week, Auburn tried to sway the favor of pundits across the country by labeling themselves as the ‘Underdogs’ in this rematch of SEC titans. But as we witnessed on Saturday night, Florida wasn't falling for the trap, while the Tigers once again came up short in the Final Four. 

Final Four Didn’t Need A Cinderella For This One

After an NCAA Tournament that lacked the ‘Cinderella’, which folks wanted to proclaim would be bad for the Final Four, all the Gators and Tigers did was prove that those folks were just clamoring for upsets, not good basketball. 

Despite entering halftime trailing by eight points, Florida would not go away. The Gators went on an 11-3 run to start the second half. The Gators continuously attacked Johni Broome, and you could tell that the big man was wearing down, only scoring three points in the second half. 

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While we watched Broome and Dylan Cardwell try to throw their weight around in the paint, it was Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin who diced the Tigers up in the paint on transition baskets. It got to a point where I started to wonder if the NCAA was going to ask Martin for a random drug test following the game after a monster dunk sent Florida fans into a frenzy. 

After years of hanging around on the outside, Florida has returned to national prominence, with Gators head coach Todd Golden defeating his mentor Bruce Pearl for a shot at winning the final game of the season. 

As for what happened to Auburn down the stretch, where they were getting beat in transition, along with around the basket, Bruce Pearl pointed towards fatigue within the Tigers.

"We got down to seven guys. That's not enough. We just did not have enough help off the bench," Pearl mentioned. "I think to take a little heat off of Johni, we scored great in the first half with our two-point baskets. We went through him, and he did great. I don't know whether we got away from it a little bit, but we only had a handful of two-point baskets in the second half. I'm going to give Florida credit defensively for stepping up.

"I just think that passing and catching and fighting for your real estate, getting your spots, not letting 'em push you out of position, I think that's why we didn't execute."

Florida Started Season In The News For All The Wrong Reasons. Now It's Title Time

There was a time in the early portion of the season where fans in Gainesville wondered if Todd Golden would actually be the head coach when the new year began. After being cleared during a Title XI investigation, the Gators athletic department stood behind their coach, not giving into public pressure from the outside to let Golden go. 

Now, after going on a tear to finish the regular season, and winning the SEC Tournament, Florida will play for the national championship. The two best teams in the conference were on the grandest stage Saturday night, and once again it was Florida who found a way to extend their season by one game. 

I don't think many people would've thought Florida would be in this spot during the month of December. But, there aren't many teams that have the type of depth the Gators have coming off the bench. That's quite a luxury, especially when combined with the play of a sharpshooter like Walter Clayton Jr., and even Thomas Haugh, who's found multiple ways to cause havoc on opposing defenses. 

As for Clayton Jr., he discussed this week about how he was introduced to March Madness by watching UConn's Kemba Walker dissect opposing teams in the tournament. Tonight, Walter Clayton Jr. had his own 'Kemba; moment. 

"I wouldn't say imitation. I try to be my own person. But yeah, man, Kemba on one of the biggest stages was calm, cool and collected," Clayton Jr. explained. "Just watching that, I kind of admired that. He was able to just zone himself out, just play his game."

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - APRIL 05:  (EDITORS NOTE: Image was captured using a remote camera.) Alijah Martin #15 of the Florida Gators dunks the ball during the second half in the Final Four game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Auburn Tigers at the Alamodome on April 05, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

The simple fact is that Todd Golden put together a roster filled with talented perimeter players, with Walter Clayton Jr. becoming the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to have back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four. 

On the same night that former Florida head coach Billy Donovan was elected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame, Gators coach Todd Golden knew how special a win like this would be for his program. 

"I actually saw Coach Donovan kind of behind our bench right before the second half started," Golden recalled. "I was thinking how amazing it was that he's here, a guy that is the face of Florida basketball, had such an amazing career in Gainesville, and obviously after. What he was able to do. 

"He raised the bar pretty high at Florida. There's some pretty high expectations now because of what he was able to do in his time there."

For all the folks that thought this Final Four would turn into a dud because it was lacking a ‘Cinderella’, I hope they were watching on Saturday night as Florida and Auburn put together a masterpiece. 

Now, the Gators will play for a title, after taking the reins from Auburn late in the season as the top SEC team in the country. 

This is why we love March Madness, even without Cinderella.