FAU guard Alijah Martin soars for a first-half dunk. https://t.co/hyCDEtJ4sq pic.twitter.com/WF6bUyRLYB

— Jerry Briggs (@JerryBriggs) January 20, 2023

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

When Alijah Martin played for the Florida Atlantic University Owls, he always seemed to be at his best when he suited up against the UTSA Roadrunners.

In addition, FAU won all four meetings between the two teams in a three-year period through the 2023-24 season, including three games contested in San Antonio.

“You played here (in San Antonio)?” one of Martin’s teammates on the Florida Gators asked Thursday morning.

Did he ever.

Martin, as an FAU freshman, produced 16 points and 9 rebounds as the Owls won 73-64 at the UTSA Convocation Center in 2022. A year later, he had 11 points and 7 boards as nationally-ranked FAU rolled, 83-64.

In January 2024, a wild, high-scoring affair tipped into overtime, and he scored 26 points in a 112-103 victory for the Owls. He also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

In a video shot by The JB Replay (see above), he’s throwing down a pretty salty dunk at the Convocation Center during the 2022-23 season.

“Is that one where I was coming down the middle?” Martin asked when I showed it to him on my phone. “Oh, yeah, I remember that one.”

Of course, that was the year that FAU shocked the world and made it all the way to the NCAA Final Four.

Meaning that, the starting guard for the Florida Gators is a Final Four veteran leading into Saturday afternoon’s national semifinal against Auburn at the Alamodome.

“It’s definitely unbelievable to be here, in this moment,” he said. “Blessed.”

Oddly, the kid from Summit, Miss., who attended a previously non-descript school in Boca Raton, Fla., is the one in the Gators’ locker room with a Final Four history.

It’s in the record books that he scored 26 points for the Owls in a 72-71 semifinal loss to San Diego State two years ago at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

Martin is now the guy in the Gators’ locker room imparting wisdom to his teammates, about what it’s like to be in a Final Four.

“I’ve been telling the guys what’s ahead,” he said, “what they can look for.”

In another twist, Martin is not the only player on a roster this weekend with previous Final Four experience on a different team. Two others are Houston guard LJ Cryer and Duke forward Mason Gillis.

Cryer, as a collegiate freshman, had a limited role in the last two games of Baylor’s 2021 national title season in Indianapolis.

With the tournament contested in a “controlled environment” during the pandemic, Cryer played two minutes in a semifinal victory over Houston. He played one minute in the championship game victory against Houston.

Gillis, for his part, played in the semifinals and finals last season for the Purdue Boilermakers.

This time last year, the Boilermakers reached the NCAA finals in Glendale, Ariz., where they lost to the Connecticut Huskies.

Gillis, who snared four rebounds in 24 minutes in the title match, acknowledged that it’s a special feeling making the trip with his new team as they prepare to face the Houston Cougars in Saturday’s late game.

“It’s a blessing, for sure,” he said. “So we just got to finish the job this year.”

Martin, Cryer and Gillis will join Steve Krafcisin (North Carolina, 1977, and Iowa, 1980) and Bob Bender (Indiana, 1976, and Duke, 1978) as the only oplayers to reach the pinnacle of the Big Dance with different teams.

Florida and Auburn will tip off at 5:09 p.m. on Saturday, followed by Houston and Duke in the nightcap. The championship game is set for Monday night, with tipoff at 7:50 p.m.

This year’s Final Four is unique in a few different ways. It’s the second in history and the first since 2008, when Kansas beat Memphis for the title at the Alamodome, that four No. 1 seeds have congregated to play for the national title.

It’s also the first in some 45 seasons that two players — Martin and Gillis — are in the national semifinals after experiencing the thrill of the moment previously with another team. Martin’s story is even more remarkable.

For his first two seasons, he started out at FAU playing in a small home arena in Boca Raton, Fla., and in modest venues all around Conference USA. Also, in 2023-24, in the American Athletic Conference.

One of those arenas was in San Antonio, where 1,500 or so would turn out to watch.

Now he’s preparing to play in the same city a year later, in a downtown venue that will be filled with about 68,000 people, in his second Final Four in three years. And for his second college team, the Gators, of the mighty Southeastern Conference.

“It’s crazy,” Martin said.

And, so, what is the lesson learned in his hoops journey?

“You got to stick with it,” Martin said. “Basketball can take you places, man, where you never thought you could be.”

2025 NCAA Final Four
At the Alamodome

Friday’s open practices

Florida: 11 – 11:50 a.m.
Auburn: 12 – 12:50 p.m.
Houston: 1 – 1:50 p.m.
Duke: 2 – 2:50 p.m.

Saturday’s semifinals

Florida vs. Auburn, 5:09 p.m.
Duke vs. Houston, 40 minutes after the end of the first game

Monday’s finals

Saturday’s winners tip off at 7:50 p.m. for the NCAA championship