RAILY, N.C. (AP) – For 30 minutes, UCONN offered back-to-back national championships for Dun Harley, surpassing top-seeded Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
And Walter Clayton Jr. took over.
The Gators’ first team national guard scored 13 of 23 points in the final eight minutes of Sunday. This included two key three-pointers to score the stretch, with Florida taking a 77-75 victory over the Husky, with UConn pursuing a third straight title.
Florida (32-4) will advance to Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017, playing Colorado or Maryland in the Western Regional semi-finals of San Francisco.
“This is a huge victory for our program,” coach Todd Golden said. “It’s time to take the next step. Again, basketball in Florida, where it belongs. Being in the sweet 16 is a great step in the right direction.
There is little doubt about that.
But they also had help from the Husky who made some distinctive mistakes, including circumscribed an offensive rebound from a free throw the Gators missed and allowed them twice to bring in four second chance points.
The Husky (24-11) brought unassuming outside expectations as the seed at No. 8, but led most of the second half. During the post-game press conference, Harley struggled several times to keep his tears in check.
“This was a historic run where these guys were wearing uniforms for the past few years,” Harley said. “If that’s going to end for us, I wouldn’t have wanted it in a game where it was losing to the lower species.
“This is how it went down and there’s some honor.”
UCONN was about to become the first three-peat team since UCLA ran seven straight titles between 1967 and ’73.
The Huskies won the 2023 title in Houston and joined Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) as the only schools to win a back-to-back since the Bruins ran under John Wood last year in Glendale, Arizona.
Florida took part in the game as a 9 1/2 points favorite and ranked number one Kenpom Adjusting offensive efficiency by scoring 128.9 points per 100 possessions, the powerful Southeastern Conference Gators joined fellow 1-seed Dukes as the only team ranked in the top 10 on either side of the ball, making it a popular pick to cut the net.
However, the Husky defense stymet company with Clayton in most games, building Florida a 52-46 lead with 35% shooting in the first 30 minutes.
The Gators left and Clayton showed why he was one of the best players in the country.
He made a 3 from the right wing With 2:54 left to lead Florida to 62-61, teammate Will Richard continued his steal and dunk. Clayton’s 3 from the same location With 1:06 left, it was 70-64. This is part of a 14-3 run that gave Florida an eight-point advantage with 40 seconds remaining.
Defending the fight against the buzzer
Even as Florida seemed to have the game in hand, UConn continued to fight. Thomas Howe’s two free throws were left with 5.9 seconds left, and he pushed the Gators’ lead to five to seal the victory.
Harley folded his arm and watched as Liam McNely’s three-pointer on the buzzer sailed towards the sky and fell onto the net as the horn rang out.
Clayton then thanked his teammates for believing in him after his rough start.
“I knew this game wasn’t easy,” Clayton said. “(UConn) has a championship pedigree, a back-to-back champion. It’s a great team. They’ve had that experience. We knew it wasn’t easy. We kept our composure.”
McNeely led the turmeric with 22 points, while Alex Caravan scored 14 points. Aliya Martin contributed 18 points to Florida, while Richard scored 15 points.
Take home
UCONN: There’s a major rebuild of the Husky that has struggled to replace losing four starters to the NBA last season.
Florida: The Gators have taken a big step. Golden revived the program in three years, but by this year it never won a March Madness Game.
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