SAN ANTONIO — Auburn (32-6) fell to Florida (35-4) 79-73 on Saturday night in the Final Four. The Tigers played an outstanding first half but second-half woes proved costly, leading to the end of arguably the best season in Auburn basketball history.
Both teams came out of the gate on fire Saturday night. At the under-16 media timeout, Florida led 16-14. Auburn’s offense continued to stay hot throughout the half resulting in 46 first-half points. Johni Broome was outstanding, scoring 12 points and Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara each added eight points.
“Played beautiful basketball in the first half,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “We were prepared. We had a great game plan. They executed it really well. We only turned the ball over twice.”
Auburn led 46-38 at halftime and was in prime position to advance to its first National Championship game in program history. The second half, however, was a different story. Auburn quickly extended its lead to nine points early in the second half but from then on Florida took control.
The issues started with turnovers. Auburn turned the ball over just twice in the first half but 12 times in the second half. The turnovers led to 16 points for the Gators.
“I think if we had taken care of the basketball a little bit, not turned it over, not given them easy ones, we could have been in position to win the basketball game,” Pearl said.
Along with the turnovers Auburn struggled to find the same rhythm offensively it had in the first half. Auburn shot 33 percent from the field in the second half. Chad Baker-Mazara scored 10 points, but everyone else was held to five points or less. Denver Jones made just one shot and Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford missed all their shots.
Along with slowing down Auburn’s guards, Florida adjusted after Broome’s big first half and held the star big man to only three second-half points. With Auburn’s guards struggling and Broome slowed down Auburn struggled to find a consistent rhythm.
“I feel like we got the looks that we wanted to get [in the second half],” Broome said. “I wasn't able to capitalize and finish 'em.”
Auburn’s defense held Florida to under 80 points, but Walter Clayton Jr. was a nightmare for the Tigers once again. He did the majority of his damage in the second half scoring 20 points on 6-9 from the field. Auburn could not contain the star guard.
Auburn went from playing one of its best halves of the season to one of its worst and in the Final Four that is all it takes to end your season. This Auburn team accomplished arguably more than any in school history, but a disastrous second half in San Antonio will undoubtedly leave a bitter taste in this team’s mouth.
“It's bittersweet to end it this way knowing we left the national championship on the table,” Auburn center Dylan Cardwell said.
As bittersweet as the ending may have been. One-half of this basketball does not define this Auburn basketball team. This team was historic and will be remembered as such.
