SAN ANTONIO – No. 1 overall seed Auburn’s championship hopes came crashing down at the Alamodome on Saturday as top-seeded Florida overwhelmed the Tigers in the second half en route to a 79-73 victory, putting a bitter end to an historic season for the Tigers.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Walter Clayton, Jr. steals the show
Walter Clayton, Jr. has been arguably the hottest player in the month of March, and he proved as much against the Tigers on Saturday.
After going for 30 points to vault his Gator squad into the Final Four, Clayton hammered the Tigers for an astounding 34-point performance and willed his squad back from a halftime deficit to cap off the Gators' Final Four victory.
Auburn held the playmaker to just two assists in the game, but additional help came from Alijah Martin, who was absent in the Tigers’ regular-season loss to the Gators. Martin added 17 points and overwhelmed the Tigers.
Auburn’s first half effort not enough
Auburn put together a stellar display of basketball in the first half – 52% from the field with just two turnovers and seven Tigers recording a bucket – but it quickly turned into a tale of two halves as the Tigers’ 48-36 halftime lead quickly diminished with the Gators opening up on 11-0 run over an 81-second span out of the break.
Auburn willed itself back in and both teams traded blows down the stretch, but after an emphatic Alijah Martin dunk with 5:27 left to play, the Tigers wouldn’t see another lead as Clayton put the finishing touches on with 12 points in the final four-plus minutes.
Sloppy play the reason why
Again, Auburn tried everything it could to will itself back in down the stretch, but it couldn’t overcome an array of miscues.
After turning the ball over just twice in the first half, Auburn committed 12 in the second. Auburn was dominated on the boards—23-13 in the second after winning 17-16 in the first—and allowed the Gators’ offense to flow freely after dominating in half-court sets in the first 20 minutes.
The only downside of the Tigers’ first half performance was its 4-of-15 mark from deep, and the 3-point shooting woes continued in the second half as they made three in the second for a combined 7-of-24. Additionally, after going for 12 points in the first half, Johni Broome only notched three points in the second half and was 1-of-4 from the field.
Florida finished off the second half with a 50% clip from the field compared to the Tigers’ 33%.
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