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Florida guard Walter Clayton, Jr. continues to write his name throughout the program’s record books. He will have one more opportunity on Monday when he leads the Gators into the national championship game. Florida defeated the nation’s No. 1 overall seed, Auburn, 79-73 to advance to their first title game since 2007. 

Clayton finished the game with 34 points (on 11-18 from the field) and 4 rebounds to lead all scorers.

The first half of the contest was very back and forth with neither team grabbing a lead of more than a few points, either way. Despite the back and forth nature of the period, Florida only possessed two leads, 11-10 and 23-22) and entered the intermission trailing 46-38.

Auburn fed talented big man Johni Broome early and often and the NBA Draft prospect took advantage of his size to bully the Gators in the paint. The Tigers scored 24 first half points in the paint, dominating Florida in that area early on.

The Gators opened the second half with much more energy than they had previously displayed. Center Rueben Chinyelu opened the scoring with a jumper that cut the deficit to just six. Florida then rode an 11-0 run to their first lead since midway through the first half at 51-49.

The rest of the second half saw the lead seasaw between both teams. Auburn led by as many as four points at 55-51 with 12:06 to play. Florida possessed a 71-68 lead with just two minutes remaining. Florida would make 4-8 from the free throw stripe to clinch the victory in the final moments of the game.

For the game, Clayton was joined by Alijah Martin (17) and Thomas Haugh (12) in double-figures in the scoring column. Chinyelu led the Gators with 9 rebounds while Haugh added seven more. The Gators shot 47% from the floor and made 8 of 21 from behind the three-point arc.

The Gators now have the opportunity to become just the third team in program history to claim a national title. Florida will play the winner of the Duke-Houston game that took place shortly after their matchup on Monday in San Antonio.