Clayton, defense put the Gators one game from a national championship

Walter Clayton Jr. slices through Auburn's defense for two of his 34 points (Photo by Chris Spears)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – At halftime Saturday evening at the Alamodome, Walter Clayton Jr. gathered the Florida big men around him. After 20 minutes of being bullied around by Auburn’s big guys, the Gators found themselves in a 48-40 hole.

Eight points had the look of the bottom of an 80-foot chasm the way Auburn dominated the paint in the first half. Auburn scored 26 points in the paint led by All-American Johni Broome, who bullied his way to 12 points. Florida had no answers for Broome nor any of the other Tigers, who connected on 13 of 18 2-point shots.

The way the Gators defended it seemed as if they left their game plan back at the team hotel.

“I thought Auburn played great in the first half,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the Gators rallied in the second half to slug their way to a 79-73 win over the Tigers in the NCAA semifinals. The Gators (35-4) earned their way into Monday night’s national championship game against Houston, which won the second semifinal 70-67 over Duke.  

Golden wasn’t completely dissatisfied with the way the Gators played in the first half. They hung 40 on Auburn, but that was without much in the way of help from the big guys. Condon, Chinyelu, Haugh and Handlogten combined for eight first half points and 10 rebounds in the first half.

“We did some nice things but we did not have an answer for their physicality in the paint,” Golden said.

The Gators have prided themselves on being the more physical team all season long, but they were playing like a team that was going to be muscled out of the stadium if they didn’t change their ways in a hurry.

There were halftime words from associated head coach Carlin Hartman, who Golden calls “the best big man coach in the country.” Then Clayton gathered Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Tommy Haugh and Micah Handlogten around him. There was confidence in his voice. He chose his words carefully, without a trace of anger and certainly there was no finger pointing.

“Walt kind of got our bigs together at halftime and gave us a nice little pep talk,” Haugh said, adding that Auburn “out-physicaled us.”

The Gators aren’t a team accustomed to losing physicality battles but for 20 minutes they were owned.

Then Walter Clayton Jr. had a game-changing moment. He scored 14 first half points that helped keep things close, but he knew he needed help.

“He just said he had immense trust in everyone on the team,” Condon explained. “He’s a great leader and he just said, 'I have a lot of trust in you boys … We’re not going to be able to get this thing done if we don’t all lock in and play together.'”

Trusting each other. Playing together. That is the Florida team that has won the last 11 games, the same one that has emerged victorious in 17 of the last 18 games.

The transformation from team on the verge of taking a beating to one that was delivering the blows began in the first five minutes out of the halftime locker. The Gators had one of what Golden calls “spurtability” moments when they ripped off 11 straight points to take a 51-49 lead. Will Richard had a layup and free throw, Clayton bombed in a three and Alijah Martin hit a stepback three  from the top of the key to tie the game at 49-49 with 16:28 to go. Following the under-16 media time out, Clayton scored on a driving layup for Florida’s first lead since the 10:21 mark in the first half.

Defense made all 11 points possible.

“We were able to turn up our pressure a little bit defensively,” Golden said. Got them on their heels offensively. We started just guarding more physically in the paint, making it harder for them to put it in the basket. Got some clean rebounds out in transition.

“They controlled the game in the first half. We stuck around and we were hanging in, but we kind of felt like we were getting knocked around a little bit … All three facets – defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball – that led to that run and victory.”

Auburn went on a 6-0 run for a 55-51 lead that was aided and abetted by four Florida turnovers and a flagrant foul assessed on Rueben Chinyelu, but that was just a temporary setback. Walter Clayton Jr. was about to take the game over.

Alijah Martin drives in for two in the second half (Photo by Chris Spears)

It started with a 3-pointer with 11:51 to go and a pair of free throws with 11:12 left. Auburn led 57-56 at the under-12 media time out but the Tigers were struggling offensively. The Tigers to kept feeding the ball into Broome, but he found it difficult to get shots off. On the perimeter, Martin and Clayton locked down Miles Kelly and Taahad Pettiford, who combined to go 0-4 from the 3-point line in the second half.

After a 4-15 first half, the Tigers managed only 3-10 in the second. When the Gators beat Auburn on the road back in February, the Gators forced the Tigers into a 7-22 shooting game from the 3-point line. The Tigers were 7-25 Saturday.

Broome, who seemed to score at will in the first half, was just 1-4 from the field in the second half. He scored three points and grabbed three rebounds in the final 20 minutes to finish with 15 points and seven rebounds, hardly what Auburn expected or needed from its All-American.

“I think we took away what they wanted down the stretch, just getting the ball into Johni and forcing him to try to finish over his left shoulder,” Haugh said. “He wanted to finish with his left hand, so once we took that away from him in the second half, it was hard for their whole team to get the offense going, I believe.”

Clayton, meanwhile, was all but unstoppable. It was his three with 4:29 left that gave the Gators a 69-65 lead. After Auburn’s Denver Jones hit a three to cut the lead by to one, Clayton found himself one-on-one with 6-11 Dylan Cardwell on the perimeter. Clayton sized up the Auburn big man, then put the ball on the deck and blew by him to score a layup for another 3-point UF lead.

Clayton scored again on a short jumper and a free throw with 1:33 to go that made it a 6-point game, 74-68. That’s when the game became somewhat of an adventure at the foul line but when Clayton was fouled with 9.6 seconds left, he sank both shots to give the Gators a 6-point lead that held until the final horn.

It is fitting that the final points of the game came from Clayton, who finished the game with 34 points, becoming the first player in the NCAA Tournament since Larry Bird in 1979 to score 30 or more in the Elite Eight and national semifinal. Clayton went 5-8 from the 3-point line and 7-7 from the foul line.

It is the kind of game we’ve come to expect from Clayton, who became the first Florida player to make first team All-America in school history.

“I am just used to seeing him put the ball in the basket, I guess,” Golden said. “But, he’s done what he’s done all year for us, and in big moments stepped up, hit huge shots, settled our team down and made winning plays when we needed him most.”

On the podium after the win, Richard, Haugh and Martin were asked to describe Clayton in one word.

“I’ll just say special, to be honest with you,” Richard said. “He’s special.”

Haugh grinned and said, “Special.”

Martin could barely contain his laughter.

“Special,” he added.

Golden could only laugh. He knows what he has – the best player in America. The runner-up for national player of the year contributed only 15 points and seven rebounds for Auburn. The national player of the year, Duke’s Cooper Flagg, had 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocked shots. But he missed the shot that could have won the game for Duke.

When Florida needed answers, Walter Clayton Jr. had them. He couldn’t have done it all by himself but that’s what teammates are for. In the second half when Clayton was lighting up Auburn, his teammates were busy putting the defensive clamps on the Tigers.

After a 17-33 shooting spree in the first half, Florida’s defenders held Auburn to 8-24 shooting from the field. The Gators outrebounded Auburn 23-13 in the second half, 39-30 for the game. Auburn got zero second chance points in the final 20 minutes. Florida forced 12 second half turnovers that the Gators turned into 14 points.

And now the Florida Gators are one win away from a national championship. Clayton deserves so much credit for making big shot after big shot when games are on the line, but he doesn’t hesitate to reveal the secret of Florida’s success.

“We are just all together – on the court, off the court,” Clayton said. “We spend so much time together that we just love each other. I keep on saying that, too. We just love each other and that’s how we’re about to battle through adversity.”

GAME NOTES: The Gators shot 25-53 overall from the field, 8-21 from the 3-point line … Martin had 17 points, hitting 6-10 overall from the field, 2-3 from the 3-point line and 3-3 from the foul line. Haugh had 12 points, seven rebounds, one steal and two blocked shots. Although he scored only seven points, Richard had six rebounds and three steals. Chinyelu finished with five points, nine rebounds and two steals … Florida led for only 11:45 of the entire game.