SAN FRANCISCO – Thomas Haugh, Florida’s 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, made a three-pointer from the left side, then another from the right side, just before 6-foot-2 senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. added his own for the surging Gators.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland, his lead and his patience gone, searched for any response.
Walking away from his bench and down one of the Chase Center sidelines, McCasland turned to his right and looked over the scorer’s table into the seats. He threw his arms in the air, urging or pleading or demanding — or all of the above — for noise and support from Red Raider fans.
And then Clayton hit another three anyway.
Dagger.
Florida, the top-seeded team in the West Regional, went from staring at elimination to burying third-seeded Texas Tech under an avalanche of clutch shooting to earn an 84-79 victory and its first Final Four berth since 2014 under Billy Donovan.
“It’s incredible,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “It’s absolutely incredible. It’s a direct result of the work that our players have done all year and the work my staff has done. They’ve all, to a man, been incredibly consistent, unselfish and worked their tail off. We don’t do this without the collective work of our program. But I’m incredibly proud to be able to be here in year three.
“And to get Florida back to the Final Four is something that’s incredibly special. When I was fortunate enough to get this position three years ago, I’m not sure this was something – that (we would) get to the Final Four by year three. But we’re awfully proud of it.”
Alijah Martin, a 6-foot-2 senior guard who went to the Final Four with FAU in 2023, flung the ball in the air in celebration as the buzzer sounded. Then Golden got his chance to turn to the crowd. His arm movements, to the Gators faithful among the 16,678 in attendance, were understandably more celebratory, with fist pumps as players stormed the court.
Understandable not only because Florida punched a ticket to San Antonio to face the winner of Sunday’s Auburn-Michigan State game in Atlanta but also how the Gators did it — after trailing by 10 points with 7:49 left, after Texas Tech took 15 more shots, after Texas Tech committed only seven turnovers, after Texas Tech had 23 second-chance points to eight for Florida.
After Texas Tech had numerous chances to put the game away, in other words. No wonder McCasland entered the interview room, sat at a table on a raised stage in front of the media, and used his right hand and fingers to rub his forehead. He kept his eyes closed for several seconds too.
It was unclear whether he was having flashbacks of the final 2:55, the brief but deadly stretch that turned the season for two teams.
Three by Haugh.
Three by Haugh.
Three by Clayton.
Three by Clayton.
The last, with 59 seconds left, after Clayton passed up about a 10-footer in the lane to instead dribble back to the three-point line and fire away, gave Florida a 78-77 edge just after McCasland looked to the stands for help. Call it the early, more public version of rubbing his forehead.
“For sure,” Clayton said when asked if the barrage demoralized Texas Tech, even though the Red Raiders had plenty of time to push back. “I definitely seen them. A couple shots went in, they kind of turned around and looked at their bench like, ‘How?’
“Nothing was going through my mind. My mind was blank. Thankful that the shots went in. But we were locked in until the final buzzer sounded. My mind was blank, honestly.”
Clayton finished with 30 points, with 10 coming in the final 1:47; he also hit four free throws in that stretch. It was his second 30-point game of the season; he had 33 in a 106-100 loss at Kentucky to open the SEC season.
“You know,” Golden said, “he’s obviously a blessing to have in our program, have on our team. He’s an incredible player, but outside of that he’s a great leader. He’s been everything we could have asked him to be for this program since he got to campus two years ago (after transferring from Iona). Obviously, this year he’s taken on a lot more ballhandling responsibilities for us. He’s closed out a lot of games for us. And there’s not another player in America you would rather have right now than Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big-time moment.
“As he said, I think he said he blacked out or whatever; he doesn’t get too high or too low. He does a great job controlling his emotions. And most players in that moment, their heart rate would get up. He has that special talent and ability to stay even-keeled. The biggest thing in those moments is you need to have somebody that wants to take those shots – they’re obviously difficult plays, but someone that has the confidence to step up and make incredible individual plays. And Walter did that for us.”
Clayton’s mind went blank, Clayton blacked out — same thing. Daggers by different names.
Florida is in the Final Four and Texas Tech is done. That’s the explanation that really matters.
