The University of Houston men’s basketball team had a chance to tie or win the game but lost control of the ball in the last few seconds. As the buzzer went off, all that remained was the sight of gleeful University of Florida Gators and crying Cougars.
The No.1 West seed University of Florida won its third NCAA title after defeating the Midwest No.1 seed Houston 65-63. The title is Florida's first since 2007.
Monday’s victory for the Gators follows their Final Four win on Saturday against Auburn University; another close game winning by six.
As for Houston, the Cougars had the opportunity to compete in the championship thanks to their comeback effort against Duke University on Saturday.
The Blue Devils and the Tigers were also first seeds in their respective divisions, making the Final Four all No.1 seeds for the first time since 2008, according to an April 5 article published on Saturday from USA Today.
The matchup was hard fought on both sides with neither team allowing the other to pull away, as the largest lead of the game was only 12 points when the Cougars led the Gators in the second half 42-30.
It seemed a little grim for the Gators in the first half as their leading scorer in the tournament, guard Walter Clayton Jr. went scoreless in the first half going 0-5 from the field with four of those shots being 3-point attempts.
Luckily, guard Will Richard was able to keep the team afloat dropping 14 points in the first half. He went on to finish the game with 18 points shooting 50% from the field, an efficient 57.1% from behind the arc and going perfect from the free throw line.
Clayton Jr. eventually found his footing in the second half scoring 11 points on 3 for 5 shooting and 1 for 3 from deep.
Cougar guard L.J. Cryer was the leading scorer for Houston, bringing in 19 points with 12 coming from the 3-point line with four threes.
Cryer’s scoring helped contribute to the team’s three point lead at the end of the first half.
Regarding the Cougars scoring, Cryer was the only player who had double figures as the second leading scorer, guard Mylik Wilson had nine points.
Florida outshot Houston from the field and free-throw line. The Gators made 39.6% of their shots compared to the Cougars 34.8% and made 81% of their free throws compared to the Cougars’s 64.3%.
Both teams were nearly even from downtown with Florida shooting 25% compared to Houston’s 24%.
Gator forward Alex Condon also gave his team some productivity, scoring 12 points and shooting 55.6% from the field.
Florida was also slightly better on the glass, grabbing 40 boards while the Cougars grabbed 39.
Although the Gators had four more turnovers than Houston, the Cougars got into foul trouble, racking up 19 personal fouls which ultimately contributed to Florida’s attempts from the line.
As the NCAA basketball season is officially wrapped up, the Houston basketball program has yet to win a title and will have to hope they can be in the same spot next season.
