Florida comes up with defensive stop to hang on vs. Houston for third national title

Fans were treated to a spectacular sendoff of the March Madness season Monday evening in the NCAA Tournament championship between Florida and Houston. Things came down to the final minute before the Gators escaped with a 65-63 victory.

Florida held a 64-63 lead with 46 seconds remaining when Houston guard Emmanuel Sharp lost the ball out of bounds to give possession back to the Gators. But Denzel Aberdeen missed the first free throw and made the second to give the Cougars a shot.

However, Florida got the defensive stop on the next possession as Houston failed to even get a shot off. Sharp was looking to attempt a potential game-winning 3-point basket, but the Florida defense smothered the shot attempt. Instead of taking the shot, Sharp instead chose to bounce the ball on the ground, which would have resulted in a travel if he touched the ball again. 

It is just the third championship in school history for Florida and the first since 2007. The title is the first for coach Todd Golden, who has had a meteoric rise since taking over as the head coach at San Francisco in 2019-20.

This is only his sixth season overall as a head coach and his third in Gainesville and he’s already made history. Golden now joins Billy Donovan as the only two coaches to lead the program to a title.

The Cougars held a 60-57 lead with 3:24 remaining in the game. But Walter Clayton Jr., who came alive in the second half to score 11 points after being held scoreless in the first, answered with a 3-point to tie things back up.

Houston jumped out to a double-digit advantage to start the second half, but Florida refused to go away. The Gators tied the game up at 48 when Clayton scored his first field goal of the evening with 7:54 remaining, getting fouled and converting the and-one opportunity.

Things got off to a sluggish start as neither team made a 3-pointer for the first 10 minutes of the game. It was just a 16-10 lead for Houston at the halfway point of the first half as the Cougars defense was swarming.

Both teams seemed to settle into an offensive rhythm after that, as Houston took a 31-28 lead into halftime. The Cougars held Clayton scoreless in the first half, though he did get involved with five assists.

Clayton finished with seven total assists in addition to his 11 points. Will Richard led the team with 18 points and eight rebounds in the victory.