NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Florida's points of emphasis 1, 2 and 3 heading into Saturday's matchup with Auburn in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal was ball security. Can't turn it over against the Tigers or else they'll make you pay. UF needed only to revisit footage of its lopsided loss at Auburn back on Feb. 5 to hammer home what giveaways against the Tigers can do. UF had a season-high 17 that night. 

So imagine how 19 more went over this time. 

Point guard Jared Harper scored 20 points, including four inside the final 11 seconds, and the Tigers collectively tallied 20 more points off UF turnovers in overtaking then staving off the Gators, 63-30, with active hands and clutch baskets down the stretch at Bridgestone Arena. In advancing to Sunday's tournament title game, the Tigers had to overcome Florida's 60.5-percent shooting, a 32-17 pounding on the boards and a generally inspired effort by the underdog Gators, who lost the first meeting 76-62.

"It's really hard to look at the stat sheet and explain an Auburn victory," Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said. 

Actually, it wasn't hard at all. 

"It was the turnovers that ultimately cost us," said UF coach Mike White, whose team was averaging just 11 per game coming in, but made enough uncharacteristic gaffes in this one to render a controversial final-second no-call to sub-plot status. "I don't know that we could have played harder." 

Harder? No. Better? Yes. 

Nineteen turnovers. Compare that to Auburn, which had a season-low four. 

"They're a very physical and pressuring team," UF senior center Kevarrius Hayes said. 
 
Florida (19-15) was seeking its first spot in the SEC Tournament final since 2014, having reached the semis for the first time since winning the whole thing that save year on the way to the Final Four. The Gators got to this one by trouncing Arkansas in Wednesday's second round and upsetting No. 9, top-seeded and regular-season conference champion LSU in Friday's quarterfinals, with that second outcome locking up an NCAA Tournament at-large berth, according to the so-called "bracketologists." 

So UF basically was playing with house money, relative to its postseason fate, and at times got way too gambling (and careless) with its chips, whether in trying to split ball screens, making careless tosses into passing lanes or just making decisions without regard for Auburn's elite overall team speed and quickness. 

"They're really fast at every position. They overplay stuff, randomly switch stuff and they're unpredictable on how they guard certain actions throughout the game," White said. "They got the best of us twice this year in terms of us getting out of our comfort zone and trying to make a few plays that we didn't need to make. I thought we had great poise for about 24-ish minutes." 

UF had 18 fewer shot attempts than Auburn (25-9) because the Gators, despite a sizzling 70-percent from the floor in the first half (14-for-20), couldn't solve the Tigers' aggressiveness and pawing defense. With the game tied at 47-all with nine minutes to go, Florida proceeded to turn the ball over six times over the next seven possessions while Auburn took off on a seven-point run that eventually helped the Tigers build an eight-point lead, 57-49, inside six minutes left. 

After that, the game got cleaner and closer. 

"They're always in the gaps, so it's hard to reverse the ball, and they're very active even on the ball," said UF fifth-year swingman Jalen Hudson, who had 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and four turnovers. "They're able to switch on the ball and off the ball. It was hard for us to get into the paint and a lot of times we were late-shot clock because of their pressure and we ended up trying to do things we shouldn't have done." 
 
Still, when Hudson fed Hayes for a layup and KeVaughn Allen (9 points, 3 turnovers) hit a couple free throws, the Gators trailed by just four with 4:27 to go. About two minutes later, when Hudson hit a 3, the Tigers' lead was just 61-58 with 2:30 left. After a stop and slam-dunk from Hayes (16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 turnovers), UF trailed just 61-60. 

And after Auburn couldn't get the ball across midcourt within 10 seconds, Florida had the ball and a chance to take the lead with 57.9 seconds left. 

Freshman forward Keyontae Johnson (5 points, 8 rebounds), with double-doubles in each of the first two tournament games, missed a go-ahead 3-point shot with 38 seconds left. Auburn's Chuma Okeke (9 points, 7 rebounds) rebounded and handed off to Harper, who went into the front court knowing the Tigers could not run out the clock. 

The Gators, meanwhile, knew they needed a stop. 

"I was looking to attack the basket," Harper said. 

To that point, Harper had 16 points, all coming in a first half when he made four of five 3-balls; a couple from NBA-plus range. With the shot clock inside five seconds, Harper eschewed the notion of a drive and pulled up with Hudson in decent defensive position. 

Bang. Four-point lead with 10.6 seconds left.

Hudson on Harper's range: "It's surprising me even now."

Out of a timeout, Hudson went the length of the floor for a layup to make it 64-62 with 7.4 seconds left. The two teams then traded timeouts, before Auburn inbounded the ball to Harper, who was instantly fouled. An 82-percent free-throw shooter, he went to the line looking to ice the game. Harper made the first, but missed the second, with the Gators rebounding. 
 

Foul or no foul? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/KCeSAmBZmX

— ESPN (@espn) March 16, 2019

In the previous timeout huddle, Pearl order his players what to do in the event Harper did not make both free throws.

"I wanted a foul," Pearl said.

Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, the buzzer-beating hero just 24 hours before, dribbled into the front court and, indeed, looked to be fouled (maybe by two different defenders) by a pack of swarming Tigers. Nembhard did all he could to throw his hands and the ball toward the basket through flailing Auburn arms, but officials thought no contact was made and the ball landed well short as the final horn sounded, throwing the Gators into wait-and-see mode relative to Sunday night's NCAA Tournament Selection Show.  

In the end, it was a one-possession game.  

Oh, those 19 turnovers.