Auburn holds a 29-25 lead into the under-10 media timeout. It has been a seesaw of a game with eight lead changes and six ties in the first 12 minutes. Alijah Martin leads the way for the Gators with 10 points while Chad Baker-Mazara leads the Tigers with eight.
Johni Broome has missed his last three attempts after starting 2-2.
Broome with the rejection and Kelly with the layup 🔥#MarchMadness @AuburnMBB pic.twitter.com/NtxDAPvKRM
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 5, 2025
Auburn leads 16-14 after the first five minutes. Johni Broome is getting it done in the paint with six early points while Chad Baker-Mazara has drilled two three balls for the Tigers.
The Gators are matching with threes of their own as Walter Clayton Jr. has two three-balls and Alijah Martin has one.
Each team is shooting over 50% from the field.
Back and forth we go in the early going 🔥#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/t4v8racYwT
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 5, 2025
We are less than half an hour until (1) Auburn and (1) Florida take the stage for the men’s Final Four in San Antonio. Follow along here for live updates and highlights throughout the game.
Here are the starting lineups for the SEC foes:
The Florida Gators and Auburn Tigers will tip off the 2025 Final Four at 6:09 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 5. Here’s a breakdown of the matchup between these two SEC powerhouses:
Florida
The Gators have been on a hot streak since Feb. 8, when, coincidentally, they beat Auburn 90-81 on the road. Since then, they are 14-1.
Florida’s biggest strength is its ability to get hot at the right time. The Gators are known to completely turn the tide of games in just minutes with offensive onslaughts. Case in point: They trailed by nine points against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight with 3:14 left to play, but they ended the game on an 18-4 run to advance to the Final Four.
Auburn
The Tigers struggled down the stretch of the regular season, losing three of their last four games. They fell apart defensively and found themselves limping into the tournament, but still the No. 1 overall seed.
Since then, though, Auburn has looked like its usual self, tightening up defensively and stifling their opponents at the rim and beyond the arc. Denver Jones is the Tigers’ best perimeter defender, and he’ll need to be lights out when guarding Walter Clayton Jr., who had 19 points, including 12 from three-point range against Auburn back in February.
Regular season matchup
The 90-81 final score of the Feb. 8 matchup is misleading, as the Gators led by double digits for the majority of the game. Auburn scored some late free throws to cut the deficit to a more respectable single-digit, but the Gators dominated the first meeting between these SEC foes.
These two No. 1 seeds match up pretty evenly on paper. Here’s a breakdown of some key team stats and individual leaders for each squad:
Florida Category Auburn 85.4 Points per game 83.2 69.7 Points allowed per game 69.2 35.74 3-point percentage 36.09 72.69 FT percentage 72.80 10.9 Turnovers per game 9.3 Walter Clayton Jr., 18.1 (G) PPG leader Johni Broome, 18.7 (F) Walter Clayton Jr., 4.2 (G) APG leader Tahaad Pettiford, 2.9 (G) Alex Condon, 7.7 (F) RPG leader Johni Broome, 10.9 (F) 👉 Click or tap here to see all stats
The Final Four is set, and Florida will meet Auburn in a showdown of two SEC powerhouses.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game:
We will be live blogging the game right here on NCAA.com
