The Southeastern Conference had been, by far, the best group of college basketball teams this season.
This March, they broke the record for the most teams sent to the Big Dance with 14. Seven of those teams made the Sweet 16. There was an all-SEC matchup in the Final Four.
So it’s only fitting that the national champions in 2025 hailed from the SEC. As they say down South, it just means more.
For the third time in school history, the Florida Gators have won the national championship – defeating the Houston Cougars 65-63 in San Antonio.
The Gators won this game the same way they won many others in this tournament: off a comeback. After being down double-digits to Auburn in the Final Four, they were down 12 to the Cougars early in the second half.
But to win, they engineered the third-largest comeback in national championship history, tied with Kentucky in 1998. Now, they’ve captured glory for the first time since Billy Donovan clinched back-to-back titles in 2007.
Final Four Most Outstanding Player Walter Clayton Jr. lifts Florida’s national title trophy
The Gators celebrate after winning their first national title since 2007 over Houston
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson walks off the floor after losing the national title game
Todd Golden became the second-youngest coach to win a national title in NCAA history, only being two years older than Jim Valvano was when he won the 1983 title with NC State. Incidentally, both Valvano and Golden beat Houston to win their titles.
Houston is now 0-3 in national championship games. They couldn’t get it done in the ‘Phi Slamma Jamma’ days with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1983 and 1984. Now, they taste defeat on the sport’s biggest stage once again.
In a season where the four best teams in the sport stayed clearly at the top, it ended with two of those teams squaring off in the final game for a national title.
And dear lord did it look ugly.
Neither team shot 40 percent from the field (Florida 39.6 percent, Houston 34.8 percent). Neither team shot better than 25 percent from 3-point range (UF 25 percent, UH 24 percent).
So at the end of the day, it all came down to who made mistakes. This time, it wasn’t the number of errors, but the timing of them.
Four turnovers in the final two minutes – including back-to-back turnovers on the final two possessions from Houston’s Emanuel Sharp – doomed the Cougars. Houston didn’t score a single point after hitting a free throw with 2:05 remaining in the game.
Florida was led by guard Will Richard, who finished the night shooting 50 percent and racking up 18 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
Florida coach Todd Golden becomes the second-youngest coach to win a national title
Walter Clayton Jr. celebrates after cutting down the nets at the Alamodome in San Antonio
The Gators were led by Will Richard (center) who dropped 18 points and eight rebounds
His teammate, Walter Clayton Jr., was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite having a sub-par shooting night. Clayton hit 30 percent of his shots, but finished with a statline of 11 points, five rebounds, and seven assists.
Gators big-man Alex Condon also was a key contributor on the evening with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Houston, on the other hand, was led by their star guard LJ Cryer – who was the only double-digit scorer on the Cougars with 19 points and six rebounds.
Shooting 6-for-18 on the night, Cryer was the only Houston player to hit more than four attempts.
Cryer was one of two Houston mentions on the All-Tournament Team. The other was J’Wan Roberts who, after a strong Final Four performance against Duke, only shot 3-of-13 from the floor for eight points and eight rebounds.
Houston led 31-28 at halftime off a quiet start from Clayton, who didn’t hit a single shot in the first half.
Neither team started off shooting the ball particularly well as the nerves of the moment began to take hold in the opening minutes of the game.
But by the time the half came, it was a strong performance from the Gators’ Richard that kept Florida in the game.
Houston was led by guard LJ Cryer and his 19 points and six rebounds on the evening
But Cryer was the only Houston player to get double-digit points as the Cougars struggled
The Cougars opened the second half on an 11-2 run by the time the horn sounded for the under-16 media timeout to take their 12 point advantage.
At that point, Florida hadn’t been taking care of the ball and weren’t hitting any shots. Early in the second half, the Gators’ bench was hit with a technical foul after they jumped up screaming for a foul call on Houston’s Joseph Tugler.
Clayton’s first points of the night came from the free-throw line as Florida struggled to slow the Cougars’ offense down.
Down 10 points, and in spite of Clayton’s struggles, the Gators began to come alive. Denzel Aberdeen, Alijah Martin, and Thomas Haugh all combined for a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to four points and forcing Houston coach Kelvin Sampson to call a timeout at 12:06.
Midway through the game, both teams were facing foul issues. Houston got into the bonus quickly, but Florida was in the double-bonus before the eight minute mark. Not only that, but Cougars forwards Joseph Tugler and Ja’Vier Francis each picked up four fouls just past the halfway mark.
Clayton truly arrived just before the under-eight media timeout. He drove the lane and put up a prayer of a layup that went in as the guard drew contact.
His shot from the free-throw line tied the game at 48. At that point, Houston had gone over four minutes without scoring. They finally broke their drought with a pair of Cryer free throws at the 7:13 mark.
Then, the flood gates opened. Both teams went on huge scoring runs going into the final media timeout.
Houston’s Emanuel Sharpe nearly committed a travel on this play and just let the ball go
Gators big man Alex Condon dove on the ball after Sharp (far right) let go of his dribble
Clayton jumps into the arms of a teammate while Sharp walked off with his head down
Coming out of it, Clayton drilled his only triple of the night to tie the game at 60. Cryer hit a tip-in layup to go back up two points. It would be the final field goal of the night from either team.
Under a minute remaining, Tugler fouled out after a drive by Martin. Martin, who lost in the Final Four two years ago with Florida Atlantic, hit two free throws to give Florida their first lead (64-63) since 8-6 at the 15:37 mark of the first quarter.
With 46 seconds remaining, Houston held the ball and looked to make a shot to take the lead and then force something out of Florida.
Instead, Sharp drove into three Gators defenders, then dribbled the ball off his knee and out of bounds to give the ball back to Florida with 26 seconds remaining.
A rough inbound from the Gators led to a Houston foul to put Aberdeen at the line. The 70 percent free throw shooter missed his first shot, but made the second to make it 65-63 with 19.7 seconds left and giving Houston one last chance to win the game.
Up the court the Cougars went. Pressure on Cryer forced him to ditch the ball once again to Sharp. Sharp was open from deep. He jumped up with the ball, but seeing the outstretched arms of Clayton… he just let go of it. He didn’t shoot, he didn’t pass, he just… let go of it.
Touching it would have been an automatic turnover for an up-and-down travel, so Sharpe boxed out anyone around him.
Condon dived on the ball and the horn quickly sounded afterwards – crowning the Gators as the national champions in 2025.
