SAN ANTONIO — It was fitting. As Auburn basketball's national championship aspirations slipped away, what it needed most drove its opponent to a win.
The Tigers 2024-25 season came to a close Saturday, with 1-seed Florida beating it for a second time this season, 79-73 in the Final Four. The Gators did more of what they've done all through the NCAA Tournament, getting hot late to win in comeback fashion. They also rode their star, Walter Clayton Jr.
The Florida guard posted a career-high 34 points, scoring 20 in the second half, and Auburn (32-6) tried its best to do the same with its own in All-American Johni Broome.
For a team that beat lesser opponents this season without him, Auburn had yet to stifle the likes of a Florida in Broome's absence. In the Alamodome, it proved to be the Tigers' biggest flaw.
He was vital for the Tigers' run through March Madness. Broome pushed Auburn through the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight with team highs in points. Coach Bruce Pearl said in recent days that the Tigers would ride him hard. But between lingering injuries and the Gators' ferocity, it couldn't.
"I don't think he (Broome) ran out of gas," Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl said. "I just think that the momentum wasn't really there for us, and we didn't get into a great rhythm in the second half offensively."
In the first half, Steven Pearl said, Broome looked like "the best player in college basketball, like he's ...
