SAN ANTONIO | Florida clamped down on defense in the second half and just squeezed the life out of Auburn.
The Gators held the Tigers to 33 percent shooting after the break in a 79-73 win in the Final Four Saturday night at the Alamodome.
"Played beautiful basketball in the first half. We were prepared. We had a great game plan. They executed it really well. We only turned the ball over twice," said AU coach Bruce Pearl. "Second half, Florida's effort and energy, the fact that we're not as deep as what we normally are, was a factor. I thought fatigue was a factor.
"As a result, we weren't able to maintain control of the game, which 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."
Florida was plus-10 in rebounds and forced 12 of AU’s 14 turnovers in the second half. After scoring 46 points in the first half, AU was held to 27 in the second.
Auburn used a late 16-6 run to go into halftime with a 46-38 lead. But the Gators responded with a quick 11-0 run early in the second half. The game remained close until Walter Clayton Jr. took over scoring 10 of UF’s final 12 points.
The Tigers had no answer for Clayton, who led all scorers with 34 points including 5 of 8 3-pointers.
"Well, he's a great player. He can go both ways. He can make tough shots," said Pearl. "About the only thing I probably should have done more is trap the ball out of his hands a little bit. Believe it or not, that was part of our game plan, but we just didn't execute it.
"Clayton was the difference. He was just flat out the difference. We couldn't contain him down that end."
Chad Baker-Mazara led Auburn with 18 points, Johni Broome had 15 and Denver Jones 10.
Auburn finishes the 2024-25 season 32-6, advancing to the Final Four for only the second time in program history.
