All roads lead to the final four, and the four most consistent squads faced off for some incredible games of basketball. All four 1-seeds—Auburn, Florida, Houston, and Duke—showcased their talented rosters, but only one would stand alone at the top of the madness.
Semifinals
Florida vs. Auburn
In an SEC rival showdown, these powerhouses embraced the moment to its fullest, the stars from each side shined, and the intensity was top-notch. For these teams that have proven themselves worthy all year long of being a title contender, they stepped up to show the country why that’s the case. However, the Florida Gators were able to pull out the gritty win in an unbelievable game, starring the All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr., who finished with 34 points and five 3-pointers, becoming the first player to have 30-point games in both the Elite 8 and Final Four since Larry Bird did it with Indiana State in 1979, which is some very good company. The career high performance for Clayton couldn’t have come at a better time, leading the way for the Gators onto the title game.
Auburn was the better team in the first half, up by eight heading into the half, and it looked like they were able to score however they wanted against this Gator defense. Chad Baker-Mazara (18 points, 2 assists) was Auburn’s most productive player on the night, and he was consistent, shooting 6/10 on field goals and knocking down four 3-pointers. It was looking real good for the Tigers until Florida made adjustments at the half and came out hot, erasing their eight-point deficit in just under five minutes. From there on out it was a fight to the finish, and both teams traded buckets. The Gators defense stepped up when it mattered, though, limiting the Tigers to just 27 points in the second half. Shutting down Auburn’s Johni Broome to just 15 points was a big reason why Florida was able to come away with a victory. Along with a changed offensive scheme, powering their way down low, making mid-ranges, and hitting 3-point shots when they had them gave them the edge in the second half. Forward Alex Condon (1 point, 5 fouls) fouled out down the stretch and did not have his best game, but both Alijah Martin (17 points, ⅔ from 3) and Thomas Haugh (12 points, 7 rebounds) were able to pick up his slack, playing very efficiently in this contest to keep Florida in the game.
The problem for Auburn was their 3-point shooting only being 28%, and they were also outrebounded 39-30, letting the Gators have extended possessions and burn more clock. The starters were all able to play well enough to keep this game close, but ultimately, some bad free throw shooting late in the game cost them the game. In the final minute of the game, Florida was up 74-68, and the game was still in reach for the Tigers until Thomas Haugh was able to put the game out of reach with an and-1 floater over Johni Broome. This shot iced the game, and Auburn was not able to recover in time, resulting in a 79-73 win for Florida, paving their way to the National Championship.
Duke vs. Houston
Another thrilling game between the other two best teams in the country had everything you would expect for a semifinal game. With Duke being in front for a vast majority of the time, it looked like there was no hope for Houston until there was. The Cougars were able to erase a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes of the game.
This lockdown defense for Houston that has been so good all year was able to shut down Cooper Flagg (27 points, 7 rebounds) and Duke down the stretch to come away with the win in stunning fashion. The Blue Devils were only able to muster one field goal over the last 10 ½ minutes, highlighting a catastrophic finish to Duke’s season. Flagg was able to have a top-notch performance until the collapse happened, making plays, creating space, and finding his teammates. Another freshman guard, Kon Knueppel (16 points, 7 rebounds), performed incredibly well too, being a great second option in this game. One thing that stood out for this team was just the four bench points. The starters were in the game for most of the time, but Maliq Brown was only able to score four points on the night in his 15 minutes of playing time, and Caleb Foster didn’t record a point in his 13 minutes of soft play. Huston was also able to be dominant on both the offensive and defensive glass.
With Duke allowing 18 offensive rebounds to the Cougars, this set Houston up well for extended possessions and second-chance points. L.J. Cryer (26 points, 5 rebounds) played the entire 40 minutes of this game, and that was for good reason because he was lights out, being the counterpart to Cooper Flagg. Cryer added in six 3-pointers and was the X factor for the Cougs. Emanuel Sharpe (16 points, 5 rebounds) also had himself a game, scoring when it mattered most, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute of the game.
A great all-around performance came from J’Wan Roberts (11 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists), who set the tone by being aggressive on boards and playing physically. Roberts was a huge difference maker, especially in the second half, locking up Cooper Flagg in the last 10 minutes, including a great shot contest when Hoston was leading 68-67 against Flagg with 8 seconds left, closing out on his jumper to make the shot hit the front iron. This sent the Cougars to the title game after some made free throws and a missed Tyrese Proctor heave at the buzzer. Joseph Tugler for Houston came up clutch with 4 blocks in the contest as well to sway momentum for the Cougars, and they fed off nicely from this because they would never look back. In a game where Houston’s defense didn’t come to play until the final ten minutes of the game and a Duke offense that looked unstoppable for the first thirty minutes, Houston was able to pull out a remarkable 70-67 victory.
National Championship: Florida vs. Houston
The final game of March Madness in the title game featured Florida and Houston, as both teams were able to fight through their respective sides of the bracket, Florida being the 1-seed out of the West Region and 1-seed Houston coming out of the Midwest Region. Each team came into this game after hard-fought victories against the other two tough top seeds, but they were looking for more. With a lot at stake and the biggest day of their lives for these athletes, it all came down to this grand finale.
In the first half, Florida looked to be out of sorts against this phenomenal Houston defense. The Gators were putting up terrible shots and weren’t able to get into open space. Walter Clayton Jr. was shut down completely in the first half, not getting a single bucket. This was certainly the game plan for Houston: double-teaming Clayton when they got the chance and not letting him get open at all. Coming off the best game of his career, there was some interest to see if he could live up to that same kind of performance in this game. After a late run at the end of the first half, Florida closed the gap a little, down 28-31 at the end of twenty minutes. Will Richard was the man in this first half, with 14 points to go with four three-pointers. Without him, the Gators would be down big time, but instead, he kept them in the game.
Coming out of the half, the Houston Cougars were able to stretch the lead to 42-30 with fifteen minutes to play, thanks to a few three-pointers by L.J. Cryer. From then on, they were trading buckets the rest of the game, and Florida just kept slowly chipping away at the lead. There were many fouls that were being called, and what helped the Gators is that they got to the double bonus with about 11 minutes to go. This allowed Florida to remain physical and draw fouls to get to the line. The intensity began to pick up towards the end of the half, and it appeared as if the Houston defense started to get a little tired from their impressive defending all game. Florida took advantage of this and started to get more open shots and score down low.
It definitely wasn’t Walter Clayton Jr. that night, but of his 11 points, his 3-pointer with about three minutes left tied the game at 60-60, not letting Houston stretch the lead. After the Gators erased the 12-point deficit, Houston’s lead never grew larger than six the rest of the game. After trailing the entire game and not having a lead since the 15:37 mark of the first half, Florida took the lead 64-63 with 46 seconds left after two clutch free throws by Alijah Martin. After getting a stop, Denzel Aberdeen added on another free throw with 19 seconds, giving Florida a 65-63 lead and one more chance for Houston to get a basket.
Unfortunately for Houston, the play they drew up failed badly, and they weren’t able to find a good shot, but Emanuel Sharpe looked to have a chance from beyond the arc as he went up to shoot but appeared to panic as Clayton Jr. closed in on the shot, and Sharpe just let the ball bounce on the ground, resulting in a scramble for the ball. Alex Condon was able to come up with it for the Gators, and he corralled it as time expired. Florida was able to hold on to a tremendous 65-63 win, giving Florida their third championship title in school history since repeating in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. This win denied Houston’s head coach Kelvin Sampson his first-ever national title win in his 30+ years of coaching college basketball in heartbreaking fashion.
In just his third year of coaching the program, Todd Golden led the Gators to a 36-4 record this year on their way to a national championship. After last year’s first-round exit, this was a huge bounce-back year for them, and they proved to the country who the best team in college basketball was this season.