Florida Gators

What Happened

Fourth-seeded and 12th-ranked Auburn used its trademark suffocating defense to smother Florida in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game Sunday, as the sixth-seeded Gators fell hard, 86-67, in a showdown that also had crushing ramifications for the rest of their postseason aspirations. Just 101 seconds into the game, UF 7-foot-1 sophomore center Micah Handlogten suffered a gruesome lower leg injury that sent a deafening silence over packed Bridgestone Arena as the Florida coaches and players surrounded their wounded teammate before a stretcher took him off the court and headed for a local hospital with his leg in an air cast. All-SEC forward Johni Broome, with 19 points and 11 rebounds, led a balanced Tigers attack that had eight players score between seven and 19 points. Auburn shot 50.8 percent for the game, but 64.3 in the second half after the Gators cut a first-half deficit of 12 points to just one early in the second half. That was when the Tigers took off on a run of seven straight points to seize control of the game that was never in doubt on the way to capturing their third SEC Tournament crown since 2019, all of them under Coach Bruce Pearl. Defensively, the Tigers frustrated the Gators, who averaged 85.7 points and shot 46 percent overall and nearly 35 from deep in their first three tournament games, into 36.4-percent shooting, including just 1-for-13 from deep (7.7 percent). UF's 67 points were its second-fewest of the season and the 19-point margin equaled the largest of its 11 defeats. Handlogten's injury came at the 17:39 mark and it took a considerable portion of the half for the Gators to gather themselves. In the meantime, Auburn built a double-digit lead 11 minutes in and led by as many as a dozen, 31-19, with just over four minutes to go before the Gators, despite shooting just 28 percent in the period, made a couple shots to close within eight at halftime. Three minutes into the second half, UF was down just one, 45-44, and had possession of the ball, but the next three minutes were brutal for the Gators: three missed shots, two missed free throws and two turnovers that led to easy transition run-outs for the Tigers and another eight-point deficit that at the 14:06 mark had turned into a game-high 21. UF had nothing left, as Auburn scored, defended, pounded away and left no doubt to its championship bona fides. Florida was led by first-team All-SEC point guard Zyon Pullin's 15 points and Walter Clayton Jr.'s 13, but after making 27 3s in the first three games the Gators were stone-cold (maybe a little fatigued in the legs, with a fourth game in four days) from distance Sunday. 
 

What it Means 

Handlogten, one of the most popular players on the team, was averaging 5.5 points, 7.1 rebounds per game and a huge reason Florida is one of the nation's best offensive rebounding teams. His loss completely changes the makeup of the team and what it wants to do, but that's the reality the Gators now face. UF fell to 4-6 all-time in SEC Tournament championship games, but what a run it was and what a world of good it did to the program's seeding in the NCAA Tournament next week, even with the loss of a key starter. Read on. 
 

In the Spotlight

Prayers for Micah. 
 

Staggering Statistic

Since 2012, the Gators have suffered crushing injuries to a bevy of front court standouts. To review: Will Yeguete (missed the NCAA Tournament with a knee injury, with UF falling in the West Regional title game); 2017 (John Egbunu, season-ending knee injury at Auburn on Valentine's Day for a team that reached Elite Eight); 2020 (Kerry Blackshear Jr. fractured his finger with UF up 18 points in its regular-season finale against Kentucky, a game the Gators lost by one due to a lack of low-post depth); 2021 (first-team All-SEC forward and '22 Preseason Player of Year Keyontae Johnson's collapse at Florida State); 2022 (Colin Castleton, a three-time All-SEC performer and his season-ending broken hand on a fluke play against Ole Miss). Now Handlogten.
 

Up Next

Florida (24-11) will stick around Nashville to watch the selection show at the team hotel to learn of the Gators' site and seed at the NCAA Tournament later this week. The program is going back to the tournament for the first time since 2021 and on the strength of its run through this event -- with two Quad 1 wins -- can expect to be rewarded with a No. 5 or 6 seed. That's a lot better than the projected No. 8 line they likely were sitting on when arriving in Nashville on Wednesday. Auburn (27-7), meanwhile, can probably bank on a No. 3 seed and will be a dangerous match-up for any opponent in the 68-team field, given with the way the Tigers guard.