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SAN ANTONIO — Florida’s comeback kids did it one more time, this time on the biggest stage and at the biggest moment of all.
The Gators’ 65-63 win against Houston Monday night marked their fourth second-half comeback in six NCAA Tournament wins. At one point UF trailed by 12 points and did not take its first second-half lead until 46.5 seconds to go but did just enough to deliver the program’s third national championship.
“We did what we needed to do to win,” coach Todd Golden told CBS as confetti fell at the Alamodome. “We stayed the course. We’ve had to come back quite a bit in this tournament.
“They’re winners, and they find a way to win.”
In the process, Golden became the youngest winning coach since Jim Valvano in 1983. The 39-year-old Gators coach surpassed UF’s Billy Donovan as the youngest to win a national title since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Houston’s bid for the first national title for the school and 69-year-old coach Kelvin Sampson ended when guard Emanuel Sharp could not get off a 3-point shot and lost control of the ball. Florida’s Alex Condon fell on it as time expired, leading the Gators’ bench to clear as players and coaches spilled onto the court.
It was anything but easy for the Gators (36-4).
Houston (35-5) outmuscled and overwhelmed Golden’s squad early on and took All-American Walter Clayton Jr. out of the game with relentless double-teaming.
Clayton did not score his first point until hitting a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 42-34 with 14:57 remaining. He did not hit his first field goal until 7:54 remained.
But following a media timeout with 3:24 to go, Clayton hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60-60, the fourth tie of the second half after the Gators rallied from a 42-30 deficit with 16:24 left in the game. Coming off consecutive 30-point games, the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player finished with a tournament-low 11 points but had seven assists and just three turnovers after two early ones.
Down a dozen and succumbing to the Cougars’ physicality, things seemed tenuous for Florida.
But with Houston ahead 45-34, the Gators suddenly showed life.
A Denzel Aberdeen layup began an 8-0 run capped by a 3-point play by Thomas Haugh after he blocked Cryer’s 3-point attempt and scored on a layup off a Richard while getting fouled.
Cryer answered with another 3, but Houston missed its next eight field-goal attempts as UF pieced together a 6-0 run capped by a 3-point play by Clayton to tie the game a 48-48, the first of four ties until the Gators pulled ahead for good when two free throws by Alijah Martin made it 64-63.
When the buzzer sounded, Golden had done something else Donovan, a newly minted Hall of Famer, did not during his transformation tenure in Gainesville. Golden led Florida to the Final Four faster than Donovan, who led UF to the 2000 title game in Year 4, and won it all on his first try.
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The Gators’ 65-63 win against Houston Monday night marked their fourth second-half comeback in six NCAA Tournament wins. At one point UF trailed by 12 points and did not take its first second-half lead until 46.5 seconds to go but did just enough to deliver the program’s third national championship.
“We did what we needed to do to win,” coach Todd Golden told CBS as confetti fell at the Alamodome. “We stayed the course. We’ve had to come back quite a bit in this tournament.
“They’re winners, and they find a way to win.”
In the process, Golden became the youngest winning coach since Jim Valvano in 1983. The 39-year-old Gators coach surpassed UF’s Billy Donovan as the youngest to win a national title since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Houston’s bid for the first national title for the school and 69-year-old coach Kelvin Sampson ended when guard Emanuel Sharp could not get off a 3-point shot and lost control of the ball. Florida’s Alex Condon fell on it as time expired, leading the Gators’ bench to clear as players and coaches spilled onto the court.
It was anything but easy for the Gators (36-4).
Houston (35-5) outmuscled and overwhelmed Golden’s squad early on and took All-American Walter Clayton Jr. out of the game with relentless double-teaming.
Clayton did not score his first point until hitting a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 42-34 with 14:57 remaining. He did not hit his first field goal until 7:54 remained.
But following a media timeout with 3:24 to go, Clayton hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60-60, the fourth tie of the second half after the Gators rallied from a 42-30 deficit with 16:24 left in the game. Coming off consecutive 30-point games, the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player finished with a tournament-low 11 points but had seven assists and just three turnovers after two early ones.
Down a dozen and succumbing to the Cougars’ physicality, things seemed tenuous for Florida.
But with Houston ahead 45-34, the Gators suddenly showed life.
A Denzel Aberdeen layup began an 8-0 run capped by a 3-point play by Thomas Haugh after he blocked Cryer’s 3-point attempt and scored on a layup off a Richard while getting fouled.
Cryer answered with another 3, but Houston missed its next eight field-goal attempts as UF pieced together a 6-0 run capped by a 3-point play by Clayton to tie the game a 48-48, the first of four ties until the Gators pulled ahead for good when two free throws by Alijah Martin made it 64-63.
When the buzzer sounded, Golden had done something else Donovan, a newly minted Hall of Famer, did not during his transformation tenure in Gainesville. Golden led Florida to the Final Four faster than Donovan, who led UF to the 2000 title game in Year 4, and won it all on his first try.
____
Continue reading...
