Resilient Florida relies on defense and playmakers to overcome frustration in NCAA title game

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Dribbles bounced off hips, no-look passes went to no one and Florida’s best player couldn’t make a basket.

And when the Gators’ bench was assessed a technical foul early in the second half, a frustrating night appeared tobe hitting its low point.

But then the resilient Gators got going as they fought back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to beat Houston 65-63 in the NCAA title game for the school’s third national championship.

A blocked 3-pointer by Thomas Haugh led to his spinning layup, a three-point play and screaming fist pump. Walter Clayton Jr., scoreless in the first half, tied the game three times in the second half.

“I got a little emotional. My team needed a spark,” Haugh said of his play that helped the Gators get within 45-42 with about 12 minutes left.

“This group,” he added, ”is just gritty.”

Gritty enough for four comebacks in this NCAA Tournament.

The Gators created their own version of Houston’s suffocating defense that had stifled them for so much of the first half. The Cougars committed four turnovers in the final 1:21.

As Houston looked for the winning 3-pointer in the final seconds, Clayton forced Emanuel Sharp to abandon the shot. Sharp had to let the ball go, creating a mad scramble as Florida’s 6-foot-11 Alex Condon fully extended, diving to the floor to get it.

The Gators had looked completely out of sync in the first half.

Nothing was working for Clayton, who had scored 30 and 34 points, respectively, in the previous two games to carry his team to the final. That meant other players had to step up.

“We have 20 minutes. Let’s set the tone!” Will Richard told his Florida teammates in a huddle just outside the locker room at halftime.

Clayton said coach Todd Golden never seemed worried about his first-half struggles.

“Coach didn’t say anything. We understand it’s a team sport, it’s not all about just one guy. Multiple guys stepped up,” the star guard said.

Richard had kept Florida in the game with four first-half 3-pointers. Condon, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, did the work on the defensive end, teaming up with Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handgloten to hold Houston’s muscular J’Wan Roberts to eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

Richard even gathered the team together after the techincal foul to calm things down.

Clayton eventually delivered the biggest moments in the rally as he tied the game three times, the first two on spinning layups for three-point plays and the last with a contested 3-pointer.

“We bounce back,” said Gators guard Alijah Martin, whose free throws with 46 seconds left gave Florida the lead.

“We’ve been doing it all year, but now we did it on the biggest stage.”

Chinyelu celebrated with a cigar — still wrapped in plastic — in the Florida locker room. Golden was heading to the postgame press conference when someone asked how many texts he’d received after the victory.

He peeked at his phone: “There’s 6,994. Wait … 6,995,” he laughed as they kept pouring in.

Golden said he didn’t have to give a fiery speech at halftime after the early turnovers and poor shots.

“We just needed to kind of calm down,” he said. “It’s kind of embedded in their DNA. … They just found a way to win the ballgame.”

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