While it looked like Auburn might pull away following a lopsided first half, the Gators put together a dominant second half on both ends of the court to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit and get the 79-73 win, advancing to the title game for the fourth time in program history.
Walter Clayton Jr (34 points) and Alijah Martin (17 points) provided a large portion of the scoring for the Gators, with Thomas Haugh adding 11 points off the bench. The Gators hit eight threes in the win, with Clayton accounting for five. Florida also dominated on the glass, pulling in 39 rebounds while holding one of the top offensive rebounding teams to only nine offensive boards.
In what turned out to be an incredible game, here are three takeaways from Florida’s come-from-behind win over the Auburn Tigers to advance to the title game for the first time since 2007.
There is no stopping Walter Clayton Jr
Walter Clayton Jr followed up his incredible 30-point performance against Texas Tech, with 34 points in the win over Auburn. Clayton was one of the only bright spots for Florida in the first half, scoring 14 points on 5-9 shooting. But what he did in the second half was much more impressive. With Florida trailing by eight at halftime, Clayton put the team on his back and dropped 20 second-half points, making a ridiculous 66.7 percent from the floor and 75 percent from three to lead the Gators to the win. It’s important not to gloss over the fact that Clayton, by himself, nearly outscored Auburn in the second. By the end of the game, Clayton made 11-18 from the floor, including 5-8 from behind the three-point arc, as well as 7-7 from the free throw line.
Via @ESPNStatsInfo: Walter Clayton Jr. is the first player with back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and national semifinals since Larry Bird in 1979.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 6, 2025
When Clayton is scoring like this, Florida is a tough team to beat. While the Gators have other players capable of getting a bucket, the offense flows much better with the ball in Clayton’s hands. As he proved tonight, when Florida is struggling to get things going offensively, he can provide a scoring run to get the Gators back in the game. Late in the game, Clayton rattled off five straight points to put the game out of reach. At his best, Walter Clayton Jr is arguably the best scorer in the country, and that is exactly what Florida got in the win over Auburn. As long as he continues to put up insane offensive numbers, there is no reason why Florida can’t win it all.
Florida’s defense stepped up in the second half.
Florida has been a solid defensive team this season, but the Gators didn’t defend well in the first half. Auburn came out hot, especially on the interior. The Tigers bullied their way to 26 points in the paint in the first half, making 52 percent from the field. And to make things slightly worse for the Gators, they allowed Auburn to grab six offensive rebounds and score eight second-chance points before the break.
But Florida looked like a completely different team in the second half. Auburn got off very few easy shots and only managed to shoot 33 percent over the final 20 minutes of the game. Florida’s bigs, Alex Condon and Reuben Chinyelu, finally settled in and slowed down Auburn’s interior scoring - holding the Tigers to eight points in the paint. While Auburn still managed to tally six more second-chance points in the second half, it didn’t matter since shots were no longer falling consistently. Florida held one of the best offenses in the country to 27 points on 12 made shots in the second half, allowing an impressive .711 points per possession.
Turnovers could have easily cost Florida the game
Forcing turnovers is a big part of Auburn's defensive strategy, so it wasn’t a complete surprise that Florida struggled a bit with turnovers at different points of the game. The Gators protected the ball well in the first half, coughing the ball up only five times. But in the second half, with Auburn ratcheting up the pressure to try to hold off a Florida comeback, the Gators turned the ball over 11 times. Though 16 total turnovers had the potential to derail the game for Florida, luckily for the Gators, Auburn wasn’t able to convert many of these turnovers into points. The Tigers scored zero points off turnovers in the first half and only six in the second half.
Over the final six minutes of the game, Florida turned the ball over five times - three of which were by Alijah Martin. If Auburn would have been able to take advantage of those turnovers then the game could have very easily ended differently. But, in the end, Florida did enough to overcome some sloppy play in crunch time.