RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — For 30 minutes, UConn showed the mettle and toughness that delivered back-to-back national championships for Dan Hurley, outplaying top-seeded Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
And then Walter Clayton Jr. took over.
The Gators’ first-team All-America guard scored 13 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes on Sunday, including two crucial 3-pointers down the stretch, and Florida rallied to a scintillating 77-75 victory over the Huskies, ending UConn’s pursuit of a third straight title.
Florida (32-4) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017 and will play Colorado State or Maryland in the West Region semifinals in San Francisco.
“This is a great win for our program,” coach Todd Golden said. “The time was now for us to take that next step. Again, Florida basketball, back where it belongs. Being in the Sweet 16 is a great step in the right direction. … We made winning play after winning play down the stretch in the last six minutes.”
There’s little doubt about that.
But they also had help from the Huskies, who made some uncharacteristic mistakes, including twice allowing the Gators to corral offensive rebounds off missed free throws, resulting in four second-chance points.
The Huskies (24-11) came in with modest outside expectations as a No. 8 seed but led for most of the second half. During his postgame news conference, Hurley struggled several times to hold back tears.
“This was just historic run that these guys have been on and the guys that have worn the uniform the past couple years,” Hurley said. “If it’s going to come to an end for us, I wouldn’t have wanted it to be in a game where we lost to a lower seed.
“There’s some honor, I guess, in the way that this went down.”
UConn was seeking to become the first team to three-peat since UCLA’s run of seven straight titles from 1967-73.
The Huskies won the 2023 title in Houston and last year in Glendale, Arizona, joining Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) as the only schools to win back-to-back since the Bruins’ run under John Wooden.
Florida entered the game as a 9 1/2-point favorite and ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency by scoring 128.9 points per 100 possessions, and the Gators of the powerful Southeastern Conference joined fellow 1-seed Duke as the only teams to rank in the top 10 on both sides of the ball, making them a popular pick to cut down the nets.
But the Huskies’ defense stymied Clayton and company for most of the game, holding Florida to 35% shooting through the first 30 minutes to build a 52-46 lead.
The Gators chipped away and then Clayton showed why he’s one of the best players in the country.
He made a 3 from the right wing with 2:54 left to put Florida ahead 62-61, and teammate Will Richard followed with a steal and dunk. Clayton’s 3 from the same spot with 1:06 left made it 70-64 — part of a 14-3 run that gave Florida an eight-point advantage with 40 seconds left.
Champs battle to the buzzer
Even when Florida seemed to have the game in hand, UConn kept fighting. Thomas Haugh’s two free throws with 5.9 seconds left pushed the Gators’ lead to five to seal the win.
Hurley watched, arms folded, standing on the sideline as Liam McNeeley’s 3-pointer at the buzzer sailed skyward and dropped through the net as the horn sounded.
Afterward, Clayton thanked his teammates for believing in him after his rough start.
“We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy,” Clayton said. “(UConn) has got a championship pedigree, back-to-back champions. That’s a great team. They had that experience. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We kept our composure.”
McNeeley led UConn with 22 points, and Alex Karaban scored 14. Alijah Martin contributed 18 points for Florida and Richard had 15.
Takeaways
UConn: A major rebuild is in store for the Huskies, who struggled to replace losing four starters to the NBA last season.
Florida: The Gators took a huge step forward. Golden has resurrected the program in a span of three years, but he had never won a March Madness game before this year.
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