1 week Ago
The best guard in the country was held scoreless for 25 minutes. He didn’t make a field goal until fewer than eight minutes remained in the game. The Gators turned the ball over nine times in the first half alone and trailed by 12 points early in the second half.
And yet. Somehow, some way, Florida found a way to come all the way back with its season on the brink. Florida found a way to take a lead in the final minute after not having a lead since the game’s fourth minute of the first half.
And Florida found a way to win its first national championship in nearly two decades, beating fellow No. 1 seed Houston, 65-63, in San Antonio on Monday night. It is the first title for 39-year-old head coach Todd Golden , who had never won a game in any men’s NCAA Tournament before reeling off six straight to win the whole thing this year.
The Gators’ comeback from a 12-point deficit is tied for the third-biggest comeback in championship history. The Gators struggled early against a terrifically tough Houston defense. Will Richard might be the game’s MVP for Florida after scoring 14 points (on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc) in the first half to keep the Gators within striking distance at the break.
Walter Clayton Jr. eventually scored a few hard-earned buckets late in the game, but unlike games past he did not put on a cape and become superhuman to carry Florida across the finish line. It was a collective offensive effort and an outcome that required a heroic defensive performance in the game’s final minutes to secure.
Houston didn’t score in the game’s final 2:05. The Cougars turned the ball over four times during that drought, and, trailing by two, they couldn’t even get a final shot off before time expired. It was yet another excruciating loss for Houston, a program that had worked so hard to reinvent itself under head coach Kelvin Sampson .
Sampson took this job eleven years ago and believed he could rebuild this program — and maybe recapture the magic of some of the best teams in college basketball history that never won it all. Houston had been to just one NCAA Tournament in the 21 years prior to Sampson’s arrival; he had the Cougars dancing again in Year 4 and reaching the Final Four again by Year 7. Hakeem Olajuwon was on hand, hoping to see Houston cut down the nets more than four decades after at least one of those Phi Slama Jama teams could’ve — and probably should’ve — won it all.
Certainly, the 1983 team had the best chance, but we all know that game ended with North Carolina State head coach Jim Valvano sprinting around the court looking for someone to hug. As the final seconds ticked off the clock and his Cougars lost possession of the ball without even launching a would-be game-tying or game-winning shot, Sampson looked stunned. Two nights earlier, he’d been on the right side of a frantic comeback (or late-game collapse, depending on who you root for) — with Duke the team left dumbfounded.
On Monday night, it was Sampson who was left to lament what could have — and probably should have — been. It was Sampson who watched a championship slip through his fingers. The Gators led for just 64 total seconds and won the game.
This is Florida’s first men’s basketball championship since its back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 under Hall of Fame coach Billy Donovan . Golden, in his third year, said he was proud to have the Gators back where they belonged atop the sport — competing for and winning trophies to bring back to Gainesville, Fla..
