Auburn basketball looked like a team poised for a date in Monday night’s national title game

Then, the second half began.

The Tigers committed 12 turnovers and shot 33.3% from the floor in the second stanza, leading to the 79-73 defeat to the Florida Gators.

“I take responsibility for 12 turnovers in the second half. It’s just impossible to either explain or to think that you can win turning the ball over a little bit,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame.

“We got a little out of sorts offensively. Guys just did not execute offensively what our game plan was like they did in the first half.”

Auburn shot 51.5% from the floor going into halftime. They also played a relatively clean half with just two turnovers.

Johni Broome was Auburn’s leading scorer in the first 20 minutes with 12 points. He was held to just three points in the second half.

Despite looking like his ankle and elbow injuries were slowing him down the stretch, Broome confirmed that his injuries were not a factor in his performance.

“Obviously here and there it bothered me a little bit. But, I mean, nothing that I couldn’t play with,” Broome said postgame.

“I feel like we got the looks that we wanted to get. I wasn’t able to capitalize and finish them.”

Florida shot 50% from the floor, scoring 14 points off of Auburn turnovers. Walter Clayton Jr. scored 20 of his game-high 34 points in the second half for the Gators.

“Doing a lot of dribble handoffs, a lot of actions just run through him. Just constantly moving. I feel like that is just what gave me some of the looks he had tonight,” Denver Jones said when talking about Clayton.

“Honestly, I just feel like we probably just felt fatigue a little bit,” Jones added. “Turned the ball over. Had a lot of careless turnovers that in the first half we didn’t really have. I feel like that’s what just what gave them the part to take the lead.”

Auburn transitions to the offseason as Florida advances to Monday’s national championship game against the winner of Duke and Houston.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected].