- The Florida Gators came back from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat the Houston Cougars in the NCAA championship on Monday. It’s the third national championship for the Gators.
- The Gators held Houston without a shot in the game’s final 19 seconds to seal the 65-63 win.
- Walter Clayton, Jr., held scoreless in the first half, finished with 11 points, and was named Final Four Most Valuable Player.
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Defense wins championships. On Monday, April 7, that defense came from the Florida Gators in the final 19 seconds of the NCAA championship game against the Houston Cougars.
How did the Florida Gators win the national title?
The Gators beat the top defensive team in the country by holding the Cougars without a shot on their final possession. Florida trailed nearly the entire game but took their second lead with 46 seconds left on a pair of free throws from Alijah Martin. Denzel Aberdeen added another free throw to make it 65-63, setting up the final possession with 19 seconds to go.
Out of a timeout, it seemed as though Houston might try for the winning 3-pointer as they kept the ball out on the perimeter. However, as the clock ticked down under 10 seconds, Houston’s Emanuel Sharp jumped up for a shot, lost the ball, and could not recover it without picking up a traveling violation. The Gators pounced on the loose ball to seal the victory.
“We did what we did all year,” Gators head coach Todd Golden told CBS. “This team never quits. We clearly have the best team in America. I’m super fortunate to be with this group right here.”
How many championships have the Gators won?
The SEC champions, who finished the season with a 34-6 record, won their third national championship and first since 2007. Florida came from behind in the second half in four of their six NCAA Tournament games, including the championship.
The Cougars came out of the gates with energy and hit some big shots in the first half to build an eight-point lead. Meanwhile, Gators star Walter Clayton, Jr., who scored a combined 64 points in his previous two games, struggled. He was scoreless in the first half, shooting 0 for 5 behind the 3-point line with two turnovers. He didn’t hit his first shot from the field until there was 7:54 left in the game.
Houston forced nine Florida turnovers in that first half and would have put the game away if it had not been for Will Richard, who scored 14 points in the first half and finished with 18. Houston guard L.J. Cryer led all scorers with 19 points in the loss.
What was the turning point in the game?
Somehow, in the second half, the Gators clawed their way back and closed a 12-point gap. The wait for Clayton to find his range finally paid off with 3:14 on the clock, as he hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60.
That tie was a turning point and led to the final defensive heroics from the Gators, who had the lead for just 1 minute and 4 seconds the entire night. Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars, in their second Final Four in five seasons, will lament their final three possessions: three turnovers and no shot attempts.
“I told the guys after the game, be disappointed in your loss, but do not be disappointed in your effort,” Sampson said. “Two great teams, two tough teams, we lost by two points. They made one more play than we did tonight.”
Clayton was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player after finishing with 11 points and seven assists. 39-year-old Todd Golden became the youngest head coach to win the title since Jim Valvano in 1983.