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Florida finishes March Madness run with national championship after rallying past Houston
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- Florida finishes March Madness run with national championship after rallying past Houston
SAN ANTONIO — Walter Clayton Jr. scored all 11 of his points in the second half and Florida pulled out a 65-63 win against Houston 's ferocious defense with a second-half rally to claim the third national championship in program history.
The Gators were led by guard Alijah Martin 's 18 points. Freshman forward Alex Condon had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Clayton added 7 assists, 5 rebounds, a block and a steal but shot 3-10 from the field and 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
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Houston guard L.J. Cryer had a game-high 19 points. Senior forward J'wan Roberts had 8 points and 8 rebounds but went 1 of 6 in the second half. Guard Emanuel Sharp had 8 points and shot 3 of 11 with a pair of costly turnovers.
This is Florida's first title since going back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 under Hall of Fame coach Bill Donovan. The Gators won a combined 39 games in coach Todd Golden's first two years but finished 36-4 this season, tying the 2014 team for the most wins in program history.
Golden is the youngest coach to win a national title since Jim Valvano of North Carolina State in 1983.
"We did what we did all year," Golden said. "We stayed the course. ... Like we've done all year, we made plays when we needed them the most. We guarded our butts off down the stretch."
Florida players celebrate after defeating Houston in the 2025 NCAA men's tournament national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Florida's victory gives the SEC its first national championship since 2012 and cements this year's conference as the most dominant in recent NCAA history. The SEC sent a record 14 teams into this year's tournament and had four teams in the Elite Eight.
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The Gators won it all despite nearly facing the toughest possible tournament road. Previously, Florida beat No. 16 Norfolk State (95-69) in the opening round, No. 8 Connecticut (77-75) in the second round, No. 4 Maryland (87-71) in the Sweet 16, No. 3 Texas Tech (84-79) and No. 1 Auburn (79-73) in the Final Four.
"It's a feeling I can't even explain," Clayton said.
In a matchup expected to be decided by which team was able to control the tempo, it was the Cougars ' physicality that defined the style of play and forced the run-and-gun Gators to alter their approach.
Houston's ability to control the paint and dominate the glass helped put it in front 16-10 midway through the first half, with the two teams combining to miss their first 12 attempts from deep. The Cougars' harassing halfcourt defense yielded six Florida turnovers and made every early possession a battle for breathing room.
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A trio of 3-pointers by Richard helped snap a five-minute Florida scoring drought and evened the score at 21-21 with 5:44 to go before halftime. The Cougars would then go on an 8-0 run over the next 40 seconds to go up 29-21. But Florida would close the first 20 minutes on a 7-2 run of its own to make the score 31-28 at the half.
That Florida was within a possession of the Cougars despite a scoreless first half by Clayton, who missed all four of his attempts but had five assists, was telling. With 14 points on 4 of 6 makes from 3, Richard stepped up to keep the Gators close. The two teams ended the half a combined 6 of 28 from behind the arc.
After only four fouls were called in the first half, Florida was whistled three times in the first 2:09 of the second, with the last, a blocking call against Richard, resulting in a technical foul assessed to the apoplectic Gators' bench. UH would make one of two ensuing free throws and then add a 3 by Cryer and a short jumper by Roberts to lead 42-30 at the 15:30 mark.
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At this point, the Cougars' tenacity had the frustrated Gators on the verge of losing the plot. Yet Florida would find a response as it had done in all four of its last victories when a comeback was required.
After an Emanuel Sharp free throw put Houston up 45-34 six minutes into the half, the Gators would get a layup from Denzel Aberdeen, a Martin connection from deep and then an and-one by forward Thomas Haugh to make it 45-42 with 12:06 left.
Clayton then finally started to make an impact. He then fouled while putting in a twisting layup on the left side, his first bucket of the game, and then made the free throw to tie the score at 48-48 with 7:54 left.
The first tie since it was 21-21 in the first half set up a high-pressure home stretch.
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Houston went up 51-48 with the help of two free throws following another technical foul on the Gators, this one on center Rueben Chinyelu . Clayton had another and-one to make it 51-51 with seven minutes to go. Dueling layups by Mylik Wilson and Aberdeen evened the score at 53-53 with six minutes left. Richard made a pair from the line to draw Florida within a point at 58-57 with 4:46 to go.
Thirty seconds later, Ja'Vier Francis would slam back an offensive rebound to put UH ahead 60-57 before a Clayton 3 with 3:14 left tied the score again. Both offenses would then bog down again, leaving UH in front 63-62 with under a minute left.
With 46.5 seconds to play, Martin would make a pair from the line to put the Gators up 64-63 and give them their first lead since 8-6 with 15:37 to play in the first half. At that point, Florida had led the game for all of 17 seconds.
The edge would hold. The Cougars' next possession ended with Sharp dribbling the ball away and out of bounds, returning the ball to the Gators. Aberdeen would make one of two from the line to make the score 65-63 with 19.7 left.
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That set up Houston's final chance. But with Sharp was forced into an awkward dribble with just seconds left when Clayton challenged his potential 3-point shot, resulting in a scramble for the ball that was recovered by Condon, bringing the national title back to Gainesville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida wins March Madness national championship with rally vs. Houston
