Gator Boys Stay Hot: Florida beats Houston to win the national title

SAN ANTONIO — The Gator Boys stay hot! Florida rallied from another halftime deficit to defeat Houston, 65-63, in the NCAA Tournament Final on Monday for the program’s third national championship and first since 2007.

Trailing by 11 points with 14:07 left to play, the Gators reeled off a 14-3 run to tie the game and took their first lead of the second half on two Alijah Martin free throws with 46 seconds left.

Will Richard led the Gators with 18 points, while Alex Condon scored 12 and Walter Clayton Jr. added 11, all in the second half. Clayton earned Most Outstanding Player honors.

“I understand that if it ain’t my night, somebody going to pick me up,” Clayton said. “Tonight was nothing different. The way we won tonight, it’s just an exclamation mark on the year. It’s great to win like that, knowing the fact that we’re a brotherhood together, and we’ve been picking each other up all year.”

Todd Golden becomes the second coach to lead UF to a title after Billy Donovan went back-to-back 18 years ago. Florida’s 36 wins this season tie the most in school history (36, 2013-14).

Florida closed out the year with a 12-game winning streak and victories in 18 of its last 19 contests. The Gators went 8-2 this season in top-10 matchups.

UF extended its single-season record with its 12th top-25 win, 10 of which have come vs. teams in the top 12. Nine of those ranked wins have come since March 1.

Prior to this year, the Gators had never beaten a top-ranked team in the regular season. They did it twice in 32 days in SEC play, routing Tennessee with a 73-43 win in Gainesville and winning their first-ever top-10 road matchup, 90-81, at Auburn before beating the Tigers again in the Final Four.

Gators in the NCAA Tournament

Florida advanced to the national semifinals with a comeback win over Texas Tech, rallying from nine points down with an 18-4 run over the final three minutes. Thomas Haugh hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to three before Clayton made two triples to tie and take the lead. The Gators’ trio of seniors each went 2-for-2 from the line in the final minute to seal the victory.

Florida imposed its will on the glass in the Sweet 16 victory vs. Maryland, posting a 42-20 rebounding advantage as 15 offensive boards led to a 21-9 edge in second-chance points. UF also a 29-3 advantage in bench points with both Haugh and Denzel Aberdeen scoring double figures.

UF’s second-round win vs. UConn was powered by its senior backcourt trio. Clayton scored 13 of his 23 in the final eight minutes, while Richard scored 13 of his 15 in the second half. Martin powered the Gators in the first half, when he scored 14 of his 18 points.

Florida raced to a 51-19 lead vs. Norfolk State in the opening round and cruised to a 26-point win, paced by Clayton’s 23 points. The Gators made 27 of their 33 free throw attempts, and 21 offensive rebounds led to 24 points.

Florida’s NCAA Tournament run was led by Clayton, who became the first player in program history to be named a first-team All-American. Clayton was named SEC Tournament MVP and the Final Four’s Most Outstanding player, made the Final Four and SEC All-Tournament team along with Richard and earned All-SEC honors along with Condon.

On the five occasions that Florida entered the NCAA Tournament off an SEC Tournament title, the Gators have now won the national championship three times (2006, 2007, 2025).

“They’re a consistent group. They’re mature. They have a lot of care for each other. They play incredibly hard and they play incredibly unselfish,” Golden said. “It’s unique nowadays in college because of all the movement to get a group that cares about each other the way that our guys do. That was a big part of our plan for this year, was we had Will, Walt, Zel [Aberdeen], Tommy and Condon and coming back, and we wanted to keep, build around those guys, make sure we added the right pieces. That roster continuity was huge for us.

“Because when Alijah [Martin], Sam [Alexis], Rueben [Chinyelu] came in, specifically, and Isaiah [Brown] and Urbi [Klavzar] as freshmen, they come in and see these guys get along really well, see them being unselfish, hanging out, it’s easy to become a part of that. The unselfishness is what I keep going back to that I take a lot of pride in and I know our guys take pride in. Hopefully we can continue to build that on a year-to-year basis. It’s obviously not easy, and I’m not naive to think that we don’t have a special group this year. I know we do.”

Florida in the Final Four

* Final Four Appearances: 6 (1994, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2025)
* National Championship Appearances: 4 (2000, 2006, 2007, 2005)
* National Championships: 3 (2006, 2007, 2025)

Not a member of Gators Online?

CLICK HERE to join the Gators Online community! It’s the top place for passionate Florida fans to find the best insight and news in the market. 

Boasting a talented collection of experienced journalists, we dig deep into recruiting and provide breaking news and analysis on UF sports.