RALEIGH, N.C. — The second Todd Golden hit the tunnel, his emotions took over. The Florida coach exhaled and let out a loud, “Let’s go, man!” before celebrating with his staff.
It had been a tense two hours for his top-seeded team, which was pushed to the brink by No. 8 UConn but rallied late to secure a 77-75 victory and advance to the Sweet 16. “This is a great win for our program,” Golden said afterward. “The time was now for us to take that next step. Again, Florida basketball [being] back where it belongs. Being in the Sweet 16 is a great step in the right direction.”
The vibe in the winning locker room was a mix of joy and relief. A few players were taking the “March Madness” and “NCAA Tournament” decals off the wall to bring home — a souvenir from a successful first two rounds in Raleigh. Florida dominated No. 16 Norfolk State 95-69 on Friday.
A majority of the Gators’ wins this season have come easy, but they were tested against UConn. They trailed 61-58 with less than four minutes remaining before 6-foot-3 senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. took over. To that point, the All-American had scored just 15 points and turned the ball over five times, but he delivered when it mattered most. Clayton nailed two huge three-pointers and hit a pair of free throws amid a 12-3 run that allowed Florida to pull away.
“Walt does what Walt does,” teammate Denzel Aberdeen, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, told Hoops HQ with a smile. “He’s a big-time shot maker in big moments. As you saw, he didn’t put his head down when he wasn’t getting the looks he’s had or getting the foul calls. He just stuck with it. He’s a big-time player.”
“Credit Clayton,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “He made some NBA-level threes off the dribble to beat us. It took that for somebody to put us down in this tournament after winning obviously a bunch in a row here.”
Clayton’s backcourt mates Alijah Martin and Will Richard also stepped up. Martin, a 6-foot-2 senior, finished with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, while Richard, a 6-foot-4 senior, dropped 13 of his 15 points in the second half. “This game tonight, it was very emotional, very physical,” Martin told Hoops HQ. “It was a game of chess. Two great programs going at it, trying to do whatever they can to win. Credit UConn, because they controlled the game for the most part. But when we found the momentum, we were to keep it. That’s very hard.”
The game felt a bit like a passing of the torch. UConn has won the last two national championships and Florida is among the favorites to cut down the nets this year. The Gators have looked like a juggernaut from the very beginning. They went 27-4 in the regular season, then rolled through the SEC Tournament with impressive victories over Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee. Ahead of Sunday’s game, Hurley said that Florida presents “eerily similar” challenges to his title-winning teams from the past two seasons. “The film doesn’t lie,” Hurley said, “the challenges that they present in terms of what they do offensively, what they do defensively, what they do on the backboard.”
And yet, UConn was in position to end Florida’s historic year. The Huskies rose to the occasion and played some of their best defense of the season. The Gators have been a machine on offense — ranking first in adjusted offensive efficiency on KenPom — but they were clearly bothered by UConn’s pressure and activity. “We really guarded them well,” 6-foot-2 senior guard Hassan Diarra said. “Everyone was in the position they were supposed to be. I thought we followed the game plan extremely well, especially in the first half. The second half they just caught fire. We had little lapses on defense.”
UConn seized a 52-46 lead on a dunk by 6-foot-10 junior center Tarris Reed Jr. at the 9:24 mark of the second half and had all the momentum, but Florida did what championship-caliber teams do: it remained poised, fought back and made key plays down the stretch. “We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy,” Clayton said. “They’ve got a championship pedigree, back-to-back champions. That’s a great team. They had that experience. We kept our composure.”
“We all trust each other,” 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Rueben Chinyelu told Hoops HQ. “We believe in each other and I think that’s what keeps us going even when we are in situations like this.”
Hurley was in tears during his postgame press conference as he reflected on the contributions of upperclassmen Diarra, 6-foot-8 junior forward Alex Karaban and 6-foot-10 senior center Samson Johnson. “Young men like that change your life,” Hurley said.
The loss brings to an end the Huskies’ remarkable run of 13 straight NCAA Tournament wins. It stings even more given how close UConn was to pulling it out and the fact that the No. 2 team in its region, St. John’s, was knocked out on Saturday by No. 10 Arkansas. “When I was asked about the 13 in a row, you have no idea the company and what we’ve accomplished,” Hurley added. “So we can take some solace in that. But today was — to be that close to getting to a Sweet 16 and knowing that the No. 2 lost yesterday, this bracket could have really opened up for us.”
For the Gators, it is another step toward their ultimate goal. They may have defeated the former champs, but they still need to take the throne. Multiple players told Hoops HQ that the adversity they faced on Sunday will benefit them as their journey continues. “It helps with the experience and the confidence going forward when you win a dog fight,” said Martin. “I’m just super proud of this group of guys. We did it and we have more to come.”
