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Florida's Micah Handlogten stretchered out of SEC championship after horrific leg injury

Auburn pushed ahead in the second half to beat Florida 86-67 in the SEC championship game on Sunday afternoon

liz roscher
Staff writer
·2 min read
47
Trainers attend to Florida Gators center Micah Handlogten after an apparent leg injury in the first half against the Auburn Tigers.
Trainers attend to Florida Gators center Micah Handlogten after an apparent leg injury in the first half against the Auburn Tigers. (Steve Roberts/USA Today)

Florida center Micah Handlogten sustained a serious leg injury during the SEC tournament championship game against Auburn on Sunday afternoon.

The 7-foot-1 center went down hard in the first half of Florida's 86-67 loss to Auburn at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Florida coach Todd Golden then confirmed that Handlogten fractured his left leg after the game.

"You hate to see it for him becuase he does everything the right way and works hard," Golden said, via ESPN. "That's a super fluky injury you know that you don't see very often in this game. Playing a big-time game like this, to go out that way, I just feel for him."

The arena fell silent after Handlogten went down, with Florida players — some in tears — huddling together while the trainers worked on their teammate's leg. Handlogten's family quickly came down onto the court to be with him. Auburn players knelt and said a prayer.

An air cast was applied to Handlogten's leg and he was loaded onto a stretcher. As he was taken off the court, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation and each of his teammates went to console him.

Florida officials expected Handlogten to undergo surgery later on Sunday at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Handlogten averaged 5.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game this season at Florida.

Johnni Broome led Auburn to the 19-point win with 19 points and 11 rebounds on Sunday afternoon while shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Denver Jones finished with 11 points, and Chad Baker-Mazara added 10 points.

Zyon Pullin led Florida with 15 points and seven rebounds, and Walter Clayton Jr. added 13 points. The Gators shot just 1-of-13 from the 3-point line as a team. Handlogten had two rebounds in two minutes before he went down.