Walter Clayton Jr. (1) rains in one of his trademark circus 3-point shots, this one over 6-foot-7 forward Chad Baker-Mazzara, during the Gators' second-half comeback Saturday night.
SAN ANTONIO – At halftime of Saturday night’s NCAA Tournament semifinal against Auburn, the Florida Gators found themselves down by eight and being outmuscled in the paint. Head coach Todd Golden and associate head coach Carlin Hartman, who oversees the frontcourt, didn’t hold back in their criticism of the team’s lack of toughness.
The message was blunt: Bow up or bow out.
Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. was the first to step out of the locker room, but instead of heading straight to the court, he paused and waited for each of Florida’s big men to come through. Once they gathered, he pulled them into a huddle. Hartman had already delivered the tough-love approach; Clayton chose encouragement.
"I told 'em I loved 'em and that they'd been doing a great job for us all year," Clayton said. "I saw some looks in their faces and said, 'Don't be nervous. We're good, we're gonna get this.' That was pretty much it."
What Clayton didn’t emphasize was his own second-half heroics. He poured in 20 of his career-high 34 points after the break, hitting clutch shots down the stretch to fuel Florida’s rally from nine points down. The Gators ultimately secured a 79–73 win over Auburn, advancing to their first NCAA championship game since 2007, when they capped off back-to-back national titles under Billy Donovan.
The third-ranked Florida Gators (35–4) are set to battle the second-ranked Houston Cougars (35–4) for the national championship on Monday night. Houston, known for having the nation’s top-rated defense, stunned NCAA Player of the Year Cooper Flagg and No. 1 Duke in Saturday’s late semifinal, erasing a nine-point deficit in the final minutes to pull off a 70–67 win that snapped the Blue Devils’ 15-game winning streak.
For Florida, it’s a chance at history.
"The heart and toughness, both physically and mentally, these guys showed was incredible," said head coach Todd Golden, who has revitalized the program in just three seasons since arriving from the University of San Francisco in 2022. "We're alive, man. We're playing for the national championship Monday night."
Leading the charge is Walter Clayton Jr. Fresh off a 30-point performance in the West Region final against Texas Tech, the senior guard once again delivered on the big stage. He connected on 11 of 18 shots, went 5-for-8 from three-point range, and was perfect at the free-throw line (7-for-7). In the second half alone, he shot 6-for-9 from the field, 3-for-4 from deep, and 5-for-5 at the stripe, powering Florida to its 11th straight victory and 17th in its last 18 games.
Clayton, a 6-foot-3 standout from Lake Wales, Florida, etched his name alongside legends. He became the first player to score at least 30 points in a national semifinal since Carmelo Anthony did it for Syracuse in 2003, and the first to post 30-plus in both a regional final and a national semifinal back-to-back since Larry Bird accomplished the feat with Indiana State in 1979.
He’s not just a scorer—Walter Clayton Jr. also knows how to steady his teammates when the pressure mounts.
Is there anything this sharp-shooting star can’t do?
"He's just special," senior guard Will Richard said.
Clayton sealed the win down the stretch, calmly sinking two free throws with 9.6 seconds left to extend the Gators’ lead to six. But his late-game heroics didn’t stop there—he tallied eight more points in the final four-plus minutes, highlighted by one of his signature, off-balance three-pointers that widened the gap against the Southeastern Conference regular-season champion Tigers (32–6).
With Florida clinging to a three-point edge and just over 90 seconds remaining, Clayton attacked the Auburn defense, absorbed contact, and converted a layup. He then completed the three-point play at the line, pushing the margin back to six with 1:33 to go. From there, the Gators controlled the finish and closed out the victory.
"All things kind of equal, Clayton was the difference," said Tigers coach Bruce Pearl, who saw a similar performance from the UF star in February when he scored 19 points, hit four 3s and dished a career-high nine assists in a 90-81 road upset of then No. 1 Auburn. "He was just flat-out the difference. We couldn't contain him down on that end."
Despite holding the lead at halftime, the Gators struggled to contain Auburn’s inside game during the opening 20 minutes. First-team All-American forward Johni Broome, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound anchor, repeatedly established position on the block, overpowering UF defenders on his way to 12 first-half points. Chad Baker-Mazara added eight more, giving the Tigers a strong interior presence before the break.
Caption: Auburn’s All-America forward Johni Broome backs down Rueben Chinyelu during Saturday’s semifinal matchup.
Auburn All-America forward Johni Broome posts up Rueben Chinyelu during Saturday's semifina
At halftime, Auburn held a 46–38 advantage, fueled by sheer dominance in the paint. The Tigers piled up 26 points inside and converted 13 of 18 attempts (72.2%) from two-point range.
"We did not have an answer for their physicality in the paint," said Todd Golden.
The Gators weren’t executing their defensive plan against Johni Broome, a left-handed force who consistently got to his strong side. Florida’s frontcourt rotation of Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh, and Micah Handlogten combined for just eight points and 10 rebounds, while showing little resistance in the opening half.
That’s when associate head coach Carlin Hartman stepped in to deliver his message.
All-UF associate head coach Carlin Hartman (center) in the team huddle.
"They know I love them, but the bottom line, this was a win-or-go-home scenario and we were allowing them to dictate the terms," Hartman said. "I went to the bigs and – I cussed a lot – and told each, 'They're challenging your manhood!' It was unacceptable and if we didn't turn it around the game was going to get away from us. We had a choice to make."
Rueben Chinyelu, the 6-foot-11, 255-pound center.
"I told Rueben he was our biggest, strongest, most athletic guy," Hartman said. "When was it going to show up?"
Hartman’s challenge was blunt. Moments later, Walter Clayton Jr. offered a different kind of message.
"He gave us a pep talk," said Thomas Haugh.
"Our PG stepped in and said he trusted us, that he'd been rolling with us all year," Chinyelu added. "It just showed the love and belief we have for each other. The trust. Boom. Our point guard said, 'Let's go!'"
The turnaround didn’t happen instantly. Auburn stretched its lead to 49–40 with 18 minutes left before Florida’s senior core sparked a response.
First, Will Richard (7 points, 6 rebounds) converted a traditional three-point play off an offensive rebound. Then Clayton drilled a transition three-pointer. A minute later, Alijah Martin (17 points, 3 rebounds) buried another triple to even the score. On the next possession, Clayton attacked the lane for a layup, capping an 11–0 surge that gave the Gators a 51–49 lead—their first since the opening half.
"For us, it starts on the perimeter – Walt, Will and Alijah, our senior leaders – are guys who have been through the fire before," said head coach Todd Golden. "They're great players with really, really high levels of confidence and they just kind of breathe it into the rest of the team."
Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin (15) takes flight for a second-half dunk.
On this night, their breath touched the UF bigs, who collectively played a completely different – far more aggressive – second half. Condon, Chinyelu, Haugh and Handlogten all took turns in limiting Broome, who appeared exhausted late in his 34 minutes, to just one of four from the floor and 1-for-5 from the free-throw line, while helping cordon off the 2-point area. The Tigers made just four of 14 shots (35.7 percent, half of what they shot in the opening period) inside the 3-point line after halftime. Chinyelu finished with a game-high nine rebounds and a game-best plus-13 on-floor score.
After Clayton's go-ahead basket, the teams combined for seven lead changes and two ties over the next nine-plus minutes. A drive and lob from Broome to center Dylan Cardwell (9 points, 8 rebounds) ended in a dunk and had the Tigers up 63-62 inside seven minutes to go. At UF's end, Haugh attacked the right side of the lane for a go-ahead layup at 6:29.
The Gators never trailed again.
A steal and run-out slam by Martin made it a 3-point lead. Barely a minute later, Clayton's 3-pointer off a dribble-handoff from Haugh had UF up by four. The margin was back to three, 71-68, inside two minutes when Clayton converted his "and-1" in traffic, and 50 seconds later Haugh (12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks) threw in a reverse layup to go up by eight, 76-68, with 37.9 remaining.
Auburn played foul ball from there and Florida helped by missing three of its next four free throws, including two by Haugh (81% on the season) with 12.7 seconds left and the lead down to four. Chinyelu, though, grabbed Haugh's miss and funneled the ball to Clayton, who was fouled and knocked down his two with less than 10 to go to finish off the Tigers and complete an individual Final Four performance for the ages.
Across eight postseason games—three in the SEC Tournament and five in the NCAA Tournament—Walter Clayton Jr. has been nothing short of remarkable. He’s averaging 23.1 points per game, shooting 49.1% from the field, connecting on 49.2% of his 63 three-point attempts, and converting 88% of his 52 free throws.
Simply put: his production is reaching levels the college game hasn’t witnessed since Larry Bird.
"I guess you could say I really haven't had time to reflect on what I've been doing," Clayton said. "I've just been focused on winning games with these guys."
Reflection can wait. For now, the Gators have one more challenge ahead: the ultimate showdown—college basketball’s most dynamic offensive player going head-to-head with the nation’s most dominant defense. Everything is on the line, and Florida’s do-it-all leader will once again be at the center of it.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu.
