As Auburn and Mississippi State transitioned off the court at Bridgestone Arena to make way for Florida and Texas A&M, Auburn assistant coach Steven Pearl and Florida head coach Todd Golden met to talk in the hallway.

The two go back, working together at Auburn since head coach Bruce Pearl started in 2014. Golden was an assistant on Bruce Pearl’s first staff and stayed through 2016. Steven Pearl worked his way up through Auburn’s staff to become the associate head coach in 2023.

It wasn’t clear what they talked about. It may have been wishing good luck as Auburn came off the floor with a win, knowing it would face the winner of Golden’s upcoming game next. Maybe just two friends catching up.

Regardless, after each side picked up a close win in the SEC semifinals with strong second-half performances, No. 4 seed Auburn will face No. 6 seed Florida on Sunday in the SEC championship game at noon Sunday in Nashville. The game will be aired on ESPN.

The matchup is fitting. It’s Florida head coach Todd Golden in his second year reaching the pinnacle game within this conference and it coming against the school that gave him his first major conference assistant coaching job.

It’s the coaching mentor, Bruce Pearl, against his mentee, Todd Golden.

To win the SEC, Golden will have to get past the man who gave him his start in the SEC in the first place.

“I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t prefer it to be someone else,” Golden said after Florida’s win semifinal over Texas A&M. “But to meet them in the championship, it’s going to just be an awesome game and a great opportunity for us. Neither side will be taking it easy on each other. Obviously, they’ve had a great year. They have a great team. We played them very well when we played them the first time. We had them at home, so obviously it’s going to be a tougher challenge now on a neutral court. Both of our programs — they’ve been established, and now we’re becoming that way. We’re trying to get there and stay there. Both teams are playing really well at the right time, obviously. I think tomorrow will be a great game.”

Florida won the lone matchup between the two this season, beating Auburn 81-65 in early February.

It was easily Auburn’s worst performance of the season. Florida has the size to match Auburn and rebounds extremely well. The Gators are the only team that thoroughly dominated Auburn this season and the game that sparked national conversations that Auburn later quieted about its road struggles.

Auburn shot 3-17 on 3-pointers against Florida and missed 12 free throws. The solace both Golden and Pearl seemed to have taken was that game happening in Gainesville, where Auburn hasn’t won since 1996.

Auburn leads the all-time series against Florida, 86-81. Auburn is 4-4 against Florida all-time on a neutral floor.

“We had some things going our way in regards to the lead up to the game,” Golden said. “We played with incredible energy and enthusiasm. I thought our guys did a great job executing against Auburn. We did a really good job defending them, limiting their opportunities on catch-and-shoot threes. We did a good job on Johni. Offensively, we were just playing with great pace and great intent. Getting down to the middle of the floor, attacking the rim. We made a lot of shots that night. We played one of our best games. We should have some confidence in the sense that we performed well against these guys.”

Matt Cohen covers sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]