The noise inside Bridgestone Arena was at a fever pitch ahead of the 2024 Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

It was a rematch between Auburn and Florida after the Gators beat the Tigers by 16 in Gainesville back in February.

Just over two minutes into the championship matchup, though, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the once raucous arena. After going up for a rebound, Florida center Micah Handlogten came down awkwardly on his right leg, breaking it in gruesome fashion.

The injury caused him to miss the rest of that season and the majority of the 2024-2025 campaign. That included Florida’s 90-81 victory over Auburn on Feb. 8, a revenge game for the SEC championship that Handlogten was unable to be a part of.

Because of that, Handlogten’s first game against the Tigers since his injury will be in the Final Four, and he didn’t shy away from acknowledging the extra motivation created by the circumstances.

“It’s really special to me, not only because it’s in the Final Four, but because it’s the team I got hurt against and I didn’t get to play when we played them during the regular season this year,” Handlogten told reporters Thursday. “You can’t write it up any better. Like, it’s a great story.”

Not only does Handlogten’s return add an extra storyline to the game, he makes the matchup even tougher on Auburn’s end. At 7-foot-1, he’s one of Florida’s best offensive rebounders and interior defenders.

Offensive rebounding is one of Florida’s biggest strengths and the Gators grabbed a number of big boards in the second half of the first meeting without Handlogten. His return adds to a frontcourt that Handlogten described as a “matchup nightmare.”

“We have so many different guys that can play so many different ways,” Handlogten said. “Just having so many versatile players it just really, I don’t know, (helps) what we can do and how we can succeed.”

He makes up a front court rotation that also includes Rueben Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon, and all four players have an offensive rebound rate over 10%, per KenPom.

Haugh and Condon both stood out during Florida’s regular season win over Auburn, combining for 33 points and 19 rebounds.

While Handlogten only played two minutes in last year’s SEC championship game against Auburn before getting injured, he added nine rebounds and five blocks in Florida’s 2024 regular season win over the Tigers.

Saturday’s game between Auburn and Florida is set to tip off at 5:09 p.m. It will be televised on CBS.

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