SAN ANTONIO – The Florida Gators are your 2025 basketball national champions! Head Coach Todd Golden and company capped off a dominant season with yet another comeback victory in the grandest game of their lives. The Gators (36-4) fought back from a 12-point second-half deficit to take down the Houston Cougars (35-5) for the 65-63 title victory at the Alamodome.
“It is a heck of an accomplishment,” Coach Golden said in a post-game press conference on the March Madness Youtube Channel. “I am super proud of everybody in my program top to bottom […] but I do think what separates us, and what has separated us all season long, is our team talent and the way our guys have played together and for each other all year.”
Senior Guard Walter Clayton Jr. (11 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) was awarded Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four as the confetti fell, but Monday night’s win was truly a team effort.
Early in the matchup, as Clayton was being smothered by Houston’s defense, Senior Guard Will Richard (18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists) and Sophomore Forward Alex Condon (12 points, 7 rebounds) shared the burden.
The Gators’ resident Australian forward scored Florida’s four opening points while Richard knocked down back-to-back shots from downtown midway through the first half. Before the senior’s first trey, the two teams had combined to be 0-13 from distance.
That included Clayton, who rarely received a clean look and was held scoreless in the first half, but it would not stay that way. As Gator great Tim Tebow said during halftime of the 2008 BCS National Championship, “We got 30 minutes for the rest of our lives.” In the case of basketball, it was 20.
Coming out of the break trailing 31-28, the Orange and Blue would continue to receive Houston’s best effort as LJ Cryer (19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists) and the Cougars pressed their advantage. The de facto home team would build a 42-30 lead with 16 and half minutes remaining, and it was looking dire for Florida’s hopes for a third basketball title.
Fast forward two and a half minutes and the Gators still trailed by 11. Then, the Gators went on one of their signature runs that they had become known for throughout the season. Over the next 6:13 of the game, Golden’s squad outscored the Cougars 11-3 with Clayton knocking down the game-tying free throw.
Knotted at 48, the final eight minutes would turn into a back-and-forth affair, with Clayton making a critical three to re-tie the game at 60 with 3:13 remaining. However, Houston would not trail in the second half until Senior Guard Alijah Martin’s (7 points, 1 rebound) pair of free throws with 47 seconds left in regulation. In total, Florida only led for 1:04 of game time, but they led when it mattered most.
With seconds left and the Gators leading 65-63, the Cougars had a chance for one last play. A play that Florida fans have likely watched countless times, Houston’s Emanuel Sharp took a pass from LJ Cryer and readied for a game-winning shot from beyond the arc. Clayton had something to say about that as he flew in for a game-sealing block.
Though it would not go down as a block, it might as well have been. Since Sharp had already left the ground to take the shot, he was forced to drop the ball lest he incur a penalty. With one second left, Condon dove on the ball and the game was over. Florida had reached the mountaintop again.
En route to their storybook finish, the Gators accomplished several milestones along the way:
- Golden’s squad beat two number one teams (Tennessee, Auburn) during the regular season and two one seeds (Auburn, Houston) in the NCAA Tournament.
- This was Florida’s first national title since winning back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.
- The Gators won their Elite Eight, Final Four, and National Championship matchups despite trailing by 9+ points in the second half of all three.
- Clayton scored 9+ points across the final 5:30 (Elite Eight), 4:30 (Final Four), and 8:00 (National Championship) of game time.
- Todd Golden (39) became the youngest head coach to win a national championship since Jim Valvano (37) took down Houston in 1983.
- Florida was one of a record 14 SEC schools to make it into the NCAA Tournament.
- The University of Florida became the only Division 1 school to win three basketball and three football national titles.
Florida went undefeated in nonconference play over the 2024-2025 season, and went 12-0 since the beginning of March.
During this span, the Gators logged 10 wins against teams ranked in the top 25 by KenPom.com.
Neil Blackmon of Saturday Down South noted that Florida won the title while “navigating a path that is tied for the toughest all-time for a No. 1 seed since tournament expansion (1985).”
“I think our resilience is unmatched […] We are going to celebrate,” Condon said to CBS’s Keiana Martin after the game. “It’s a special team. I love every single person on this team.”
UF student Ethan Faerman watched the game at the jam-packed O’Dome. “It was so loud. It’s probably the loudest I’ve ever heard it and there wasn’t even a game there,” he said. His favorite part was the celebration on the court after the win and seeing everyone so happy.
Andrew Kaye said it was especially great for him because his brother is a team manager and he got to put on the National Champion shirt when they won.
They agreed that history will remember this win for the comebacks.
“Every game we were down, thought it was out and they’d find a way. You just knew last night that they would find a way,” said Faerman.
“They’ll remember Walter Clayton Jr. That’s how they’ll remember it,” said Kaye.
