For 20 minutes, Auburn looked like a team on a mission. The Tigers came out aggressive, locked in, and seemingly unfazed by the looming challenge Florida presented. With a halftime lead of 46–38, it felt like Bruce Pearl’s squad was ready to make a statement. But what followed was a second-half stumble that turned promise into heartbreak, as the Florida Gators stormed back to steal the game 79–73. So, what went wrong? Well, the Head coach has got an answer!
During a post-game conference, Bruce Pearl didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, we knew they’d come out aggressively. But I was hoping that our starters would be able to withstand. I did not call timeout the first four minutes. I was trying to get to the TV timeout. We got to it. And, you know, obviously, those starters, my top five players, all seniors.”
“I just think that, again, we came out offensively, and we just— we didn’t run some of the things that we had talked about running the way we talked about running them,” Pearl admitted. “And so just 12 turn was bad execution, bad decision making, bad passing, catching. Took a lot of shots that we did not want to take.”
The Tigers had 14 total turnovers, giving Florida 16 points off those mistakes—more than double of Auburn’s 6 off Gator errors. And when the Tigers tried to answer in transition, they came up short again, scoring just 2 fast break points compared to Florida’s 4.
Yet, for a moment, it all looked possible. Chad Baker-Mazara led Auburn in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4 threes. Dylan Cardwell was efficient down low with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Denver Jones chipped in 10. There were moments when Auburn’s offense flowed, and the team fed off each other’s energy.
But the second half belonged to the Gators, who outscored Auburn 41–27 in that stretch and chipped away at every bit of the Tigers’ early momentum. Auburn’s largest lead—9 points—was erased as Florida’s depth and intensity wore them down. However, the coach also felt that Johni Broomi could have done more to stop Walter as “height made the difference”. No, Broome didn’t sit back too.
He explained the reason for his inefficient defense. “I mean, my elbow felt fine going into the game,” Broome said honestly afterward. “Obviously, I mean, here and there it was bothering me a little bit, but I mean, nothing that I couldn’t play with.”
And he played through it. Broome logged 34 minutes, scored 15 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and even added 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. But down the stretch, when the game slowed, and every possession mattered, he couldn’t quite find his rhythm. He admitted as much.
NCAA, College League, USA Basketball: NCAA Tournament South Regional-Michigan State at Auburn Mar 30, 2025 Atlanta, GA, USA Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl during the first half in the South Regional final of the 2025 NCAA tournament against the Michigan State Spartans at State Farm Arena. Atlanta State Farm Arena GA USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xDalexZaninex 20250330_jhp_sz2_0229
“You know, I feel like we got the looks that we wanted to get,” he said postgame. “I wasn’t able to capitalize and finish them.”
The game had flipped. What once looked like a composed Auburn offense slowly unraveled as Florida turned up the pressure and brought out the best of their depth and size. But it wasn’t just Broome who felt the heat.
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