Will Richard evaluates how he stepped up for Florida in national championship game

Will Richard definitely stepped up in Monday’s national championship game, a 65-63 win for Florida. He led the team in scoring with 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Sure, Houston had to focus on Walter Clayton Jr. as well, but Richard made them pay. Clayton was on fire this season and throughout the tournament.

So it was the perfect time for Richard to step it up! He was humble in response when asked about his performance under the brightest lights of college basketball.

“Yeah, just trying to make plays to help us stay in the game, help us give our ourselves the best chance to win,” Richard said. “They were guarding Walter and other guys pretty hard. Will had seven assists. Even when they were guarding him so hard, I feel like he still made plays to help the team win. Just a good job by the team staying aggressive throughout that.”

Clayton was equally complimentary of Richard and his teammate’s performance. Florida was a complete team, as Clayton pointed out, so it could’ve been anyone’s night.

“Yeah, for sure, Houston was guarding us great,” Clayton said. “They do a great defense out there. Everyone knows them for that. We have multiple guys on this team that can go. Tonight was one of those nights with Will. He showed it multiple times this year. Never know whose night it’s going to be, and we showed that as a team.”

Florida needed Richard to step up alongside Clayton and others. The Gators trailed by 12 at one point, but managed to comeback and win it all.,

“I feel like it just goes back to how connected we are as a team,” Richard said. “I feel like we all don’t have any quit. I feel like as long as there’s time on the clock, if we take it possession by possession. I just like our resiliency and how we fight through adversity throughout the game.”

Richard stepping up personified Florida’s style. It was being able to adjust to a variety of outcomes and teams.

“I was definitely concerned,” Golden said of facing Houston and the team’s pace early. “They were dictating the tempo. We want to get out in transition. We were not able to, especially in the first half. I don’t think we have any fast-break points. When we’re at our best, we’re getting stops, clean rebounds, getting out and running in transition, finding baskets. That was concerning.

“But at halftime just looking at the numbers, the only thing that really stood out that was a big issue was our turnovers. I thought we had such uncharacteristic turnovers. I thought some of those, majority of those nine turnovers were not forced. They were just either poor decisions or being sped up offensively. We just needed to kind of calm down.”