Recap: Auburn gets revenge, cuts down the nets in Nashville

The Auburn Tigers are your 2023-2024 SEC Tournament Champions.

Bruce Pearl challenged his team to win nine games in a row before its SEC Tournament opener on Friday and Johni Broome and company have responded by notching the first three.

While it wasn’t quite Neville Arena, Sunday’s championship against Florida felt like a home game in “Auburn North”.

The Auburn family brought the energy inside Bridgestone Arena from the get-go, although the building did calm down significantly following a gruesome leg injury suffered by Florida center Micah Handlogten.

Handlogten was ultimately stretchered off, and the energy returned to the tune of Auburn defensively disrupting a potent Gators offense en route to a 38-30 halftime lead.

Mark Clayton Jr. and the rest of the Gator offense managed to cut the Auburn lead to a single point quickly into the second half, getting the score to 45-44 within the first four minutes. Guard Trae Donaldson quickly responded by knocking down a “parking lot” 3-point shot then stealing a Clayton Jr. pass on the other end that turned into a Denver Jones transition dunk.

From that moment on it was all Auburn. The Tigers outscored Florida 41-27 from that point on. The Championship was in hand by the under 4:00 timeout.

While Donaldson had a massive impact off the bench, the star of the afternoon was none other than forward Johni Broome, who picked up his second double-double of the SEC Tournament.

The Junior led all scorers in the game with 19 points while also providing 3 blocks on the defensive end. Forwards Jaylin Williams, Chris Moore, Chaney Johnson, and Dylan Cardwell also played fantastic minutes against a tall Florida front court.

Auburn’s 86-67 win continues a trend of dominance we’ve seen from Auburn this season. Every Tigers win has come by double-digits other than one.

The Tigers have every chance to run the table again in the NCAA Tournament. We’ll see who they’ll face in a few short hours.

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Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire