The No. 1 overall seed Auburn Tigers have already etched themselves in the history books as the most accomplished squad in program history.
But to make it a little bit sweeter, the Tigers will aim for greatness as they look to advance from their second-ever Final Four appearance in battle against a familiar foe, West Regional Champion and SEC Tournament champion, No. 1 seed Florida on Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
“We're excited about being back at the Final Four. You don't know that you're ever going to get there once in your career, so you feel incredibly blessed and grateful to have a second opportunity,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
The Tigers will be battle-tested against the field in San Antonio — Duke, Houston and Florida — as they faced each squad in the regular season, making them only the second team to have previously played all the other teams in the Final Four.
But there’s no looking past the Gators as Todd Golden’s squad handed then-No. 1 Auburn its first home loss since February 2024, snapping the Tigers’ 12-game winning streak inside of Neville Arena with a 90-81 upset –Florida’s first-ever win over a top-ranked opponent on the road.
“I thought Florida outplayed us. I mean, I thought it was a Florida win rather than an Auburn loss,” Pearl said. “Florida won the game and controlled. We got off to a really good start, but they won the game the way they've been winning games. Banged 13 threes, had 22 assists, their front line played with tremendous physicality and outplayed us. If that's the case, they're going to beat us again.”
Florida has been tabbed as the nation’s hottest team since the beginning of March, riding a 10-game winning streak and an SEC Tournament title into the Big Dance. It was the prolific play of the Gators’ fearless point guard, Walker Clayton Jr., who catapulted his squad into the Final Four with a 30-point performance with a display of late-game heroics against Texas Tech, erasing a nine-point deficit in the last three minutes of the Elite Eight showdown. Clayton Jr. scored 13 of his 30 points in the final five-plus minutes, and the Gators finished the game off on an 18-4 run to make it to the program's first Final Four in the last 11 years.
“Clayton can't be the best player on the floor again for us to win the game,” Pearl said.
The well-rounded Gators are ranked third nationally in scoring (85.4), third in rebounds per game (41.9) and boast the sixth-best 3-point defense, holding opponents to 29.6% from beyond the arc.
Clayton Jr. wasn’t alone in the Gators’ 84-79 triumph over the Red Raiders as Thomas Haugh came off the bench for a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double, knocking down four triples along the way.
Haugh is just one of the Gators standout big men as he pairs with Alex Condon, who averages 10.3 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game, along with the 7-foot-1 Micah Handlogten, who returned from an injury suffered in the SEC Tournament Championship against the Tigers last season and is averaging 5.1 boards per game. Reuben Chinyelu rounds out the Gators’ frontcourt with 6.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
“This is what Florida's strength is. They're plus-12.5 rebound margin right now. They have five bigs that they rotate. Right now, we're rotating three,” Pearl said. “Obviously, what takes its toll are the number of bodies they're going to put on our leading scorer in Johni Broome. They know it. We know it. He knows it. We're ready for it.”
Broome, who injured his right elbow in the Tigers’ Elite Eight game against Michigan State but later returned as the driving force in Auburn’s 70-64 win over the Spartans, says that he is fully healthy ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the Gators.
“I'm glad he feels that way,” Pearl said. “He was 10-of-13 against Michigan State. Florida recognizes that. Florida's bigs are a little bigger and more athletic than Michigan State's or Michigan's bigs. But Johni was MVP of the South region. We rode him hard. We're going to ride him hard again on Saturday.”
Tipoff at the Alamodome is set for 5:05 CT on CBS.
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