Final Four bound! In need of a miracle, the Gators got one

Walter Clayton Jr. scored 30 and was MOP of the West Regional (UAA Photo)

SAN FRANCISCO – If you are of the opinion that the age of miracles has come and gone, then obviously you were not watching the final six minutes of Saturday’s Elite Eight game at the Chase Center between No. 1 Florida Gators and No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders. That the Gators (34-4) pulled out an 84-79 win may not rank up there with feeding the 5,000, but that was more than 2000 years ago.

This is 2025, well past what historians call the age of miracles, but to call Florida’s comeback anything less than a miracle would be a disservice to the Gators who found a way to outscore Texas Tech, 18-4, in the final 2:50 of the game. Things like this don’t happen to ordinary teams.

The Florida Gators (34-4) are no ordinary team. Ordinary teams find ways to fold when they’re down by 10 and seem to have no answers on either end of the court. The Gators simply did what they’ve been doing all season. With their backs to the wall and a season-ending loss seemingly inevitable, they manufactured a victory.

Walter Clayton Jr., who hit all three of his 3-pointers in the final 5:24 and went 13-14 at the foul line called it an “undying belief,” adding “it goes to show how together we all are. Many times we could easily just break, start pointing fingers, blaming each other for this and that but we just stayed together to the end and stayed the course.”

The course looked especially rocky with 6:18 to go when Texas Tech All-American JT Toppin hit a little bank shot that gave the Red Raiders a 71-61 lead. Up to that point, the Gators were AWOL from the 3-point line and struggling to get defensive stops. Making matters worse, the zebra crew of Steven Anderson, James Breeding and Michael Irving seemed content to allow this game to resemble something out of one of those 20-man over-the-top battle royal wrestling matches that the NWA was famous for.

Physical? It was worse than that. Rock fight? Getting close but still not there. And despite all the physicality, blown calls, bad calls or no calls, the Florida Gators never stopped believing.

It was at the under 4-minute media time out with 3:52 remaining that Florida coach Todd Golden surveyed his players in the huddle. There were no signs of doubt, only attentive players ready to hear what was required to pull this game out.

“We were down 9-or-10, whatever it was,” Golden said. “The message was we’ve got to make every winning play down the stretch. Again, our guys – our three seniors – Tommy (Haugh), Condo (Alex Condon), Rube (Rueben Chinyelu) had some good defensive possessions there. I didn’t feel we were without hope. I felt like our guys still felt we still had a shot but understood that we didn’t have that much time. And, we had to make sure we got every block-out and make sure we got every 50-50  ball and obviously step and make big shots.”

Big shots. That’s where Clayton stepped it up with help from Tommy Haugh. Up to the point when Clayton hit his first three of the game with 5:24 left the Gators were 4-19 from the 3-point line. They hit five of their last six.

Clayton would hit two more threes, but so would  Haugh, whose two big shots came on back-to-back Florida possessions. The first one was with 2:50 to go in the game. Clayton missed a three that Haugh outmuscled three Texas Tech defenders for the rebound. Finding Clayton in the corner, Haugh hustled to a spot on the left wing. When the Texas Tech defenders swarmed toward Clayton, the ball came back to Haugh who let fly with a 3-pointer that made it 75-69.

A 6-point deficit seemed much easier to overcome than 10.

When Darrion Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one, Alijah Martin ripped down the rebound, flipped it forward to Clayton who drew the defense toward him as soon as he crossed midcourt. Once again Clayton found Haugh, this time on the right wing. He buried his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 2:27 to go. Florida was down three, 75-72, still plenty of time left, but a game in which the Gators seemed to be ready to roll over and die seemed well within their grasps.

“Leave it to Walt,” Haugh said in a joyous Florida locker room. “I was open, he found me. I just caught it and let it fly. No hesitation at all.”

This was the moment when hope transformed into belief, as in no way the Gators were going to lose this game even though it was a 3-point deficit and there was a full 2:27 to be played.

The Gators fouled JT Toppin with 2:08 to go, but he did what he had done with four previous free throw attempts. He hit the back of the rim on this one and Haugh cleaned things up with the rebound. The Gators were in business again and the moment belonged to Clayton.

Clayton tied the game with 1:47 to go when he buried a 3-pointer from the left wing, shooting over Darrion Williams, a good 3-4 inches taller and at least 30 pounds heavier. Williams is an intimidating presence and to his credit he got a hand in Clayton’s face. To no avail, Clayton drained it to tie the game at 75-75.

On the return trip down the court, Williams muscled his way in for a layup that gave Texas Tech its final lead of the game with 1:23 to go. The Tech faithful screamed for a stop. The only problem was they had no one who could contend with Clayton.

With 59 seconds to go, Clayton’s final 3-pointer of the game had the effect of an 11-inch stiletto straight to the heart, twisted several times for good measure. Like the previous shot, it was highly contested. From the top of the key, Clayton faded away from the defender, launched and put the Gators ahead for good, 78-77.

 “There's not another player in America you would rather have right now than Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big-time moment,” Golden said. There is a reason why he's a first team All-America and the most feared shooter in the country when a game is on the line.

It was time for the defense to make its presence known. Ahead by one, the Gators came through with a held ball. There were still 37.8 seconds left and Tech still had the ball on the alternating possession. Tech went to Williams at the top of the key, but his shot bounced off the rim and 6-2 Alijan Martin ripped down the rebound, taking the ball away from a couple of Texas Tech defenders.

Fouled with 21.9 seconds left, Martin was money from the line, dropping in both shots for a 3-point Florida lead, 80-77. Texas Tech still had hope. Friday night they were in a similar situation against Arkansas in a Sweet 16 game when they beat the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

There would be no buzzer beaters or game winners for the Red Raiders. Williams was the last chance but his 3-pointer with 16 seconds to go missed and Rueben Chinyelu grabbed the rebound. Chinyelu was surrounded but the best Texas Tech could do was a held ball. No matter. It was Florida basketball.

On the inbounds play, the ball went to Haugh and back immediately to Clayton, whose two free throws with 10.6 seconds to go put the Gators ahead 82-77. Tech would score an uncontested layup by Chance McMillian with four seconds left to close the gap to 82-77, but on the inbounds, Will Richard was fouled. His two free throws iced a win that sends the Gators to the Final Four for the first time since the 2014 season.

“ It's crazy, I feel like I'm dreaming,” Haugh said. “I was watching the round of 64 in the eighth grade sneaking my phone into science class watching it. Now to say I'm playing in the Final Four is wild. It's wild.”

Yes, it is wild, but wild seems to be the calling card of this Florida basketball team through 38 games. When they need a miracle, they seem to find one to dial up. Now, they are two games away from Florida’s third national championship in school history and their first since the back-to-back years of 2006-07.

GAME NOTES: Clayton, who scored 30 points to lead all scorers, was named the Most Outstanding Player in the West Regional. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by Haugh, who had 20 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and a steal. Martin had 10 points and seven rebounds. Alex Condon had seven points, seven rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot … Florida’s winning streak was extended to 10 consecutive games. The Gators have won 16 of the last 17 games.

The Gators won the game at the foul line where they went 25-27 with Clayton going 13-14 and both Haugh and Martin 4-4. Texas Tech on the other hand went 7-13 ... The Gators finished 9-24 from the 3-point line. After a 6-7 start from the 3-point line, Texas Tech went 4-20 the rest of the way.