The Auburn Tigers are set to take on the Florida Gators in just their second-ever Final Four game with a chance to advance to their first national title game in program history from San Antonio on Saturday night.
After winning an SEC regular season title in the strongest year the conference as a whole has ever had and getting all the way to basketball’s biggest stage, it’s safe to say the Tigers have already locked up the most successful season in the history of the program no matter the result against Florida.
Don’t tell Bruce Pearl’s team that however, as this group arrives to San Antonio not just happy to be here — they’re there to win a championship.
In the previous matchup between Auburn and Florida, the Gators were one of very few teams to defeat the Tigers during the regular season, winning 90-81 at Neville Arena for a rare Tigers home loss.
Now, Auburn has a chance to avenge that loss while making program history.
On paper, the Tigers have been the better team throughout the tournament. While each have had scares, Auburn used absolutely dominant second half runs against both Creighton and Michigan before handling Michigan State with relative ease.
The Gators on the other hand struggled with both UCONN in the second round and Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, needing a shocking comeback in the last few minutes to advance to the Final Four.
Despite the trend of both teams, Florida is favored by roughly two and a half points in what Vegas thinks is going to be an extremely close game.
A looming factor is the health of Auburn’s superstar Johni Broome, who went down with an elbow issue in the Elite Eight game and though he was able to return is certainly far from 100 percent healthy.
Broome is all but guaranteed to play, but how effective he’s able to be on both sides of the ball could go a long way towards determining the outcome.
On offense, Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford have been phenomenal this tournament in shutting games down late with offensive explosions.
With Broome still on the mend, the Tigers may have to lean even further on guys like Pettiford and Jones as well as Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara.
For the Gators, star guard Walter Clayton Jr. — who is one of the best shotmakers in the country — has absolutely buried teams all season long but especially in the tournament.
Being able to at least limit Clayton Jr. is going to be a huge factor in determining the result for Auburn.
Things tip off from San Antonio at 5:09 p.m. central time. Should Auburn advance, they will play in the national title game two days later on Monday against the winner of the other matchup between Duke and Houston.
