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Florida’s Golden Guards lead the Gators past Auburn in a Final Four classic
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SAN ANTONIO — In an instant classic of SEC Champions befitting the grandness of the Final Four stage, Florida outlasted Auburn 79-73 on Saturday night to advance to the national championship game.
Florida won the game for largely the same reason they won 34 other games this season: when it mattered most, Todd Golden‘s outstanding guards made more plays than the other team’s guards.
It starts, though it doesn’t end, with Walter Clayton Jr., who scored 15 points over the final 10 minutes of basketball to help the Gators turn an 8-point halftime deficit into a 6-point victory. From the first Gators possession of the game, when Clayton came off a screen at the center of the arc and hit nothing but the bottom of the net, Florida’s Consensus First-Team All-American was locked in. Clayton scored 14 first-half points to keep the Gators in striking distance. Then, with the game in the balance, the senior guard exploded. Clayton scored 5 of Florida’s 11 points in a momentum-shifting kill shot (11-0) Florida run that gave the Gators the lead back early in the second half, including a driving layup where he left Denver Jones, one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball, on the floor in a puddle.
Then, after Auburn’s All-American Johni Broome helped the Tigers answer Florida’s run with a 6-0 run of their own, seemingly reclaiming the momentum in the basketball game, Clayton buried this stupendous triple falling towards the sideline to get the Gators back within a point.
Auburn fans might feel aggrieved losing to Clayton, the one Florida player that everyone in the sport knows can change the game in a blink. The problem is that it wasn’t as if Bruce Pearl and Auburn weren’t throwing everything they had at Clayton in the second half. Auburn brought 2 to ball screens to deny him the ball on the dribble handoffs and zoom actions that are Florida’s bread and butter. Auburn hedged, trying to push Clayton out towards half-court and make it hard for Florida to initiate their offense. Auburn denied him the ball on inbounds passes off made field goals. Nothing worked.
Clayton has drawn comparisons to Golden State Warriors and Team USA star Steph Curry for his ability to make dazzling shots, no matter the range and no matter how well he’s guarded. Clayton has rightly deflected the comparisons, noting that Curry is arguably the best scoring point guard in NBA history and an NCAA Tournament legend in his own right. Clayton has, as he puts it, “a long way to go before you can talk about Steph Curry.” Still, when he makes the type of shots, from logo bombs to darting layups over the tenacious rim protection of Broome and Dylan Cardwell, it’s not difficult to see why the comparisons feel something beyond lazy.
But how about a different comparison? One that’s tangible and accurate? Stumped? I was, but maybe you won’t be. After Clayton’s explosions to rally the Gators past Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and Auburn on Saturday, the Florida All-American is the first player to drop 30 points in the Elite Eight and Final Four since Larry Bird. Yes, Larry Bird. The Hick from French Lick? Meet the Assassin who Impales from Lake Wales.
Clayton didn’t win the game alone. To suggest so is entirely unfair to his supporting cast, especially Florida’s other senior guards, Alijah Martin and Will Richard, who along with Clayton Jr. form the best backcourt in the country. Both were instrumental in Florida’s win.
Martin scored 10 points in the opening half, but it was his defensive efforts, especially on Auburn’s star guard Tahaad Pettiford in the second half, that set the tone for the Gators’ rally. Pettiford finished 1-6 from the field and 0-4 from 3, committing 3 turnovers, largely with Martin his defensive cover. Martin’s physicality bothered the young Auburn guard, and that showed loudly on a late steal that led to one of the best dunks of the college basketball season, with the Auburn freshman on a poster.
Florida never trailed again. Martin would finish the game plus 10 in box plus/minus, the second highest total in the game, scoring 17 points and grabbing 3 rebounds to go along with the game-altering steal.
Will Richard was monstrous on defense as well, frustrating Auburn sharpshooter Miles Kelly (8 points, 3-10 shooting) defensively and consistently making plays on the ball in help defense, whether that meant tipping passes (2), grabbing steals (3), or forcing jump balls on hustle plays (1). Richard finished with just 7 points on 1-6 shooting, but he never let that impact his defensive intensity or effort, a testament to the ways he’s grown since he was a reliable shooter and erstwhile defender as Todd Golden’s first commitment 3 seasons ago.
Florida gave up a confounding 1.43 points per possession in the opening half, but with Richard and Martin leading the way, the Gators limited Auburn to just 27 points and .73 per possession in the second half. Florida did it not by doubling Broome, who feasted on the Gators and their single coverage scheme with 15 points and 7 rebounds in the first half, but by doubling down on their staff’s bet that they could defend Auburn’s backcourt successfully enough to make a monster night from Broome less impactful. By the time Florida’s waves of big men tired Broome out late in the game, the Gators had Auburn’s backcourt tied up in knots, suffocating them with ball pressure and disciplined closeouts.
Clayton did the rest, all but icing the game with an acrobatic, are you kidding me and-1 drive with just under 2 minutes to play.
Todd Golden’s senior guards collectively failed to receive a single Power 5 offer out of high school. Two of them, Clayton and Martin, had recruiting stars in football only.
On Saturday night at the Final Four, they were the stars that mattered most in a Final Four instant classic.
On Monday night, they’ll play for Florida’s third national championship.
They’ll be underdogs, counted out yet again.
Just the way they like it.
Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
