Walter Clayton Jr.’s late heroics pushed Florida to a 77-75 win over UConn in the best game of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
If you want to be the champ, you have to beat the champ.
In Florida’s case, it had to beat the two-time defending national champs — and it took a legendary performance from an All-American to get it done. The Gators trailed for most of Sunday afternoon’s showdown with UConn and, even though they were always within arms reach, it seemingly couldn’t get over the final hump.
Then, Walter Clayton Jr. put on his superman cape.
Clayton, a 6-3, 195-pound first-team All-American, hit a 3-pointer with 2:54 remaining to give the Gators their first lead of the second half at 62-61. That shot started a stretch in which he scored eight points in under two minutes to put the game out of reach.
WALTER CLAYTON. CLUTCH. pic.twitter.com/bWoSwbY8tc
— Heat Check CBB (@HeatCheckCBB) March 23, 2025
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‘His confidence never wavered’
“My teammates just trusted me with the ball in my hands to shoot that shot,” Clayton said. “We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy. We kept our composure.”
Clayton finished the game with 23 points, including 15 after halftime. He was also a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, getting the better of a UConn defense that looked like it was getting the better of him for most of the game.
“They were bothering him with some pressure. He was making some uncharacteristic mistakes,” Florida head coach Todd Golden explained. “What makes Walter so special is his ability to stay even-keel regardless of how he’s doing. Over the last eight minutes, I thought he did a great job of taking what the defense gave him. His confidence never wavered.”
Florida had survived a number of similar tests throughout the course of the season, so Clayton stepping up wasn’t exactly a surprise to them. The Gators faced second-half deficits a handful of times this season and came out on top more often than not.
However, doing so against a conference foe in the middle of the regular season is a far different task than doing so against the two-time defending champs in the NCAA Tournament. Clayton was up to the task.
“Our guys have been pretty mentally tough all year,” Golden proclaimed. “If you’re going to make a deep run in March, you have to catch some breaks and win some games like this.”
Florida’s win guarantees new national champion
Clayton’s individual brilliance encapsulated the best game of the NCAA Tournament so far, the results of which have ramifications far beyond the Lenovo Center.
For the first time since April 2023, someone other than UConn will be on top of the sport. Head coach Dan Hurley admitted after the game that this Husky team may not have been as good as the past two national championship squads, but it was hard to tell on the court.
The Huskies had Florida, the second most-popular pick to cut down the nets, on the ropes thanks to the high level offensive execution, defensive intensity and overall connectedness that have become hallmarks of this UConn program. Those traits were nearly enough to overcome Florida’s talent advantage.
“I thought we played in a manner good enough to win,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “Credit Clayton, he made some NBA-level threes off the dribble to beat us. It took that for somebody to put us down in this tournament after obviously winning a bunch in a row.”
And you can also credit Clayton with sending Florida to the Sweet 16, where the Gators will next face the winner of Sunday night’s game between Maryland and Colorado State. It’s the program’s first trip to the second weekend since 2017, when Florida went all the way to the Elite Eight.
That’s not far enough for this group, though. When asked by Jason Benetti in a postgame interview with Westwood One about how far this game can go in the dance, Alijah Martin didn’t mince words:
“I don’t think there is a ceiling.”