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SAN ANTONIO — It was fitting. As Auburn basketball's national championship aspirations slipped away, what it needed most drove its opponent to a win.
The Tigers 2024-25 season came to a close Saturday, with 1-seed Florida beating it for a second time this season, 79-73 in the Final Four. The Gators did more of what they've done all through the NCAA Tournament, getting hot late to win in comeback fashion. They also rode their star, Walter Clayton Jr.
The Florida guard posted a career-high 34 points, scoring 20 in the second half, and Auburn (32-6) tried its best to do the same with its own in All-American Johni Broome.
For a team that beat lesser opponents this season without him, Auburn had yet to stifle the likes of a Florida in Broome's absence. In the Alamodome, it proved to be the Tigers' biggest flaw.
He was vital for the Tigers' run through March Madness. Broome pushed Auburn through the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight with team highs in points. Coach Bruce Pearl said in recent days that the Tigers would ride him hard. But between lingering injuries and the Gators' ferocity, it couldn't.
"I don't think he (Broome) ran out of gas," Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl said. "I just think that the momentum wasn't really there for us, and we didn't get into a great rhythm in the second half offensively."
In the first half, Steven Pearl said, Broome looked like "the best player in college basketball, like he's been all year." That numbers show as much, with Broome carrying a team-high 12 points, as well as 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, into Auburn's locker room at the half.
The Tigers were up eight points, but they collapsed in the second half, and Broome's production correlated.
After making five baskets on 50% shooting in the first half, Broome had fewer shot attempts (four) in the second half than first-half makes. Florida (35-4) stalled Auburn's offense in that span. After turning over the Tigers twice in the first half, it do so 12 times in the second. It also took over on the boards, posting a plus-10 second-half rebounding margin after being minus-1 in the first.
On top of that, Broome was playing through injuries yet again. They've made their mark on him all season, sidelining him for multiple contests and forcing him to play through them in several others. Following the loss, after Broome was reportedly playing with both an ankle an elbow injury, he said the former was fine and that the latter was "nothing that I couldn't play with."
"I feel like we got the looks that we wanted to get," Broome said. "I wasn't able to capitalize and finish them."
The gravity of a season's end was heavy in Auburn's locker room, perhaps most at Broome's locker. He answered a few questions after returning from the podium, but he struggled to get more than a sentence out with each. He was fighting back his emotions, dealing with one of the best individual seasons in the program's history ending in such disappointing fashion.
But his teammates? They saw Broome's efforts against the Gators, in which he played a team-high 34 minutes despite his health, as fitting.
"It just speaks to how much he cares about winning and how much he cares about Auburn," Tahaad Pettiford said. "It shows what type of person he is. And that's why, in my eyes, he's the national player of the year."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Johni Broome couldn't do it alone, ending Auburn basketball's season
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The Tigers 2024-25 season came to a close Saturday, with 1-seed Florida beating it for a second time this season, 79-73 in the Final Four. The Gators did more of what they've done all through the NCAA Tournament, getting hot late to win in comeback fashion. They also rode their star, Walter Clayton Jr.
The Florida guard posted a career-high 34 points, scoring 20 in the second half, and Auburn (32-6) tried its best to do the same with its own in All-American Johni Broome.
For a team that beat lesser opponents this season without him, Auburn had yet to stifle the likes of a Florida in Broome's absence. In the Alamodome, it proved to be the Tigers' biggest flaw.
He was vital for the Tigers' run through March Madness. Broome pushed Auburn through the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight with team highs in points. Coach Bruce Pearl said in recent days that the Tigers would ride him hard. But between lingering injuries and the Gators' ferocity, it couldn't.
"I don't think he (Broome) ran out of gas," Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl said. "I just think that the momentum wasn't really there for us, and we didn't get into a great rhythm in the second half offensively."
In the first half, Steven Pearl said, Broome looked like "the best player in college basketball, like he's been all year." That numbers show as much, with Broome carrying a team-high 12 points, as well as 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, into Auburn's locker room at the half.
The Tigers were up eight points, but they collapsed in the second half, and Broome's production correlated.
After making five baskets on 50% shooting in the first half, Broome had fewer shot attempts (four) in the second half than first-half makes. Florida (35-4) stalled Auburn's offense in that span. After turning over the Tigers twice in the first half, it do so 12 times in the second. It also took over on the boards, posting a plus-10 second-half rebounding margin after being minus-1 in the first.
On top of that, Broome was playing through injuries yet again. They've made their mark on him all season, sidelining him for multiple contests and forcing him to play through them in several others. Following the loss, after Broome was reportedly playing with both an ankle an elbow injury, he said the former was fine and that the latter was "nothing that I couldn't play with."
"I feel like we got the looks that we wanted to get," Broome said. "I wasn't able to capitalize and finish them."
The gravity of a season's end was heavy in Auburn's locker room, perhaps most at Broome's locker. He answered a few questions after returning from the podium, but he struggled to get more than a sentence out with each. He was fighting back his emotions, dealing with one of the best individual seasons in the program's history ending in such disappointing fashion.
But his teammates? They saw Broome's efforts against the Gators, in which he played a team-high 34 minutes despite his health, as fitting.
"It just speaks to how much he cares about winning and how much he cares about Auburn," Tahaad Pettiford said. "It shows what type of person he is. And that's why, in my eyes, he's the national player of the year."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Johni Broome couldn't do it alone, ending Auburn basketball's season
Continue reading...
