After clinching its spot in the Final Four, Auburn men’s basketball will now have to get past a familiar foe to play in its first ever national championship game.

The Tigers will face Florida next Saturday in the national semifinals, looking to avenge a 90-81 loss suffered on Feb. 8 in Auburn.

“Florida has a great team. They were good enough to beat us at home,” Auburn forward Chaney Johnson said after the game Sunday. “So, we’ve just got to go game by game. It’s another team in the way of us getting to the National Championship.”

Auburn and Florida’s Final Four matchup is set for 5:09 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on CBS.

The path

The Gators have been one of the best teams in the country since beating Auburn in February. Florida is 14-1 since that game and is currently on a 10-game winning streak.

That impressive end to the regular season and Southeastern Conference tournament championship helped Florida earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Florida made it to the Final Four by beating Norfolk State, UConn, Maryland and Texas Tech.

Its Elite Eight win over Texas Tech was particularly impressive, finishing the game on an 18-4 run to complete a five-point comeback victory. The comeback included big 3-pointers from Thomas Haugh and Walter Clayton Jr., who has been one of the top players in March Madness.

The first meeting

As mentioned earlier, Saturday’s meeting between Auburn and Florida will be a chance for Auburn to avenge its loss to the Gators in February.

That loss snapped a 14-game Auburn winning streak and was just one of two home losses by the Tigers all season. It was also arguably the only time this season Auburn lost convincingly.

Florida only won the game by nine, but spent large chunks of the second half up by double digits before Auburn trimmed the deficit with some late free throws.

A big part of Florida running away with that game was its ability to grab timely offensive rebounds. Auburn finished the game with more offensive boards than the Gators, but a sequence late in the second half in which multiple offensive rebounds led to a 3-pointer seemed to be the dagger.

Another big factor was Clayton’s play. He finished with 19 points against Auburn and 16 came in the first half. Despite only scoring three points in the second half, he tallied seven assists compared to just two turnovers.

Players to watch

Any conversation about Florida right now begins and ends with Clayton.

The first team All-American is arguably the best guard in college basketball this season and is averaging 22.3 points per game in the NCAA tournament. He had 30 in Florida’s Elite Eight win and 23 in each of the Gators’ first two NCAA tournament games.

Another big name to watch in this game is fellow guard Alijah Martin. He’s Florida’s second-leading scorer, but didn’t play in Auburn and Florida’s regular season meeting.

Martin is averaging 14.5 points per game this season and shoots 58% from 2-point range, an impressive mark for a 6-foot-2 guard. He’s averaging 14.8 points through four NCAA tournament games.

Sophomore forward Alex Condon is another big name to watch. He impressed in the first matchup, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He leads the Gators in rebounds per game, an area Florida specializes in.

Condon is one of four currently active Florida players with an offensive rebound percentage over 10%. By comparison, Auburn has just two that consistently feature in the rotation (Dylan Cardwell and Johni Broome).

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m