What a wild finish to a fantastic game!!!! You have a little controversy. You have a wild comeback. You have an amazing finish. It was a shame that someone had to lose the game. But there can only be one national champion.
Remember that Houston was up 12 points after the first technical foul, so it was impressive the game ever got this close. But that last 7 minutes was basically a one possession game the entire time.
With about 4 minutes left, J’Wan Robert drove to the basket and missed a layup, but Ja’Vier Francis followed it up with a monstrous dunk off the rebound to give Houston a 3 point lead. But Florida found Walter Clayton Jr off a curl near the top of the key for a three-pointer to tie the game at 60.
LJ Cryer drove to the basket for Houston and missed the floater in the lane, but he was able to get a hand on the rebound to tip it in. Florida got the ball out to Alijah Martin for a three-pointer and missed, but Will Richard got the offensive rebound and was fouled hard. Richard hit both free throws and we are tied at 62.
Jospeh Tugler got fouled off the ball, but with so many fouls on both teams, he went to the line to shoot two. Tugler hit the first and missed the second giving Houston a 63-62 lead. Florida came down the court and got the ball on the wing to Walter Clayton Jr for a three-pointer. But unlike what he had done all tournament with the game on the line, this shot missed and the Cougars got the rebound.
With the one point lead, Houston drew the shot clock down and Miles Uzan shot it for three from the top of the key, but Will Richard blocked it as the ball missed short and rolled out. LJ Cryer got the ball on the wing and drove to the baseline to shoot a jumper as the shot clock almost expired. He missed, and looked like he was fouled after the shot as the Florida defender ran into him trying to recover from being beat on the dribble. Houston’s Joseph Tugler got the offensive rebound, but Florida tied him up and caused him to lose the ball out of bounds.
Florida’s Alex Condon tried to drive the lane and made a nice spin to try to get open. But he was well guarded by Houston and missed the shot off the backboard. Houston now has the ball with a minute left clinging to a 1 point lead.
But LJ Cryer loses control of the ball and Alex Condon steals it with about 50 seconds. Condon gets the ball up the court to Alijah Martin who drives hard to the basket. He missed the layup but was fouled by Joseph Tugler sending Martin to the line. Alijah Martin hits both free throws and gives Florida a 64-63 lead – their first lead since it was 8-6 in the first half.
Houston came down the court to try to regain the lead, but as Emanuel Sharp drove to the basket, Will Richard would get a hand on the ball and Sharp would lose control of it giving the ball back to the Gators.
Florida struggles to get the ball inbounds but does finally get the ball in – they pass it up to an open Denzel Aberdeen but they overthrow him and it becomes a race for the ball. Aberdeen got there first, and got fouled by Milos Uzan right before Aberdeen stepped out.
Aberdeen missed the first free throw, and suddenly thoughts of the Duke game happened. Could Houston retake the lead off a missed free throw for the second time? However, Aberdeen managed to hit the second free throw to give Florida a two point lead with 20 seconds to play.
Florida plays great defense forcing LJ Cryer to the wing. With time running down, Cryer gets the ball to Emanuel Sharp for a straight-away three-pointer. Sharp jumps to take the shot, but Walter Clayton Jr makes a great close-out to force Sharp to not shoot it. Sharp tries to dribble it and realizes since he left his feet, he can’t touch the ball. After a second of confusion, Florida’s Alex Condon dives for the loose ball at mid-court and the clock runs out of time.
The Florida Gators escaped the rock fight with a 65-63 victory, and in an ironic twist of fate, it was the Gators defense that stole the game from Houston.
Congratulation to the Florida Gators on an exciting double-digit comeback to win the 2025 NCAA Men’s National Championship!!!!