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.
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