San Francisco (AP) – Coach Todd Golden cut the final strand of the net, agitated him with the crowd and interpreted the famous Gator Chomp.
A celebration that seemed completely improbable a few minutes earlier was at high speed. Florida returns in the Final Four.
Walter Clayton Jr. saved the Florida from the seeded with two 3 points of 3 points, and the Gators joined nine late points to beat the Texas Tech 84-79 in the final of the western region of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.
“It shows how long we are together,” said Clayton. “Several times, could easily break, start pointing your finger, blame for that and that. But we stayed together until the end and we stayed the course. And fortunately, we did it today.”
The Gators (34-4) dragged 75-66 with less than three minutes to play before staging a furious rally against the Red Rouders with a series (28-9), which had done the same thing in the Sweet 16 against Arkansas.
Clayton has dribbled out of painting And strike a Fadeaway 3 With 59 seconds to play to give Florida an advance of 78-77, and the Gators held from there to qualify for their first Final Four since 2014 in the third season of Golden. Florida will face the champion of the Southern region – Auburn or Michigan State – next Saturday in San Antonio.
“There is not another player in America that you prefer at the moment that Walter Clayton with the ball in his hands in a big moment,” said Golden. “The most important thing in these moments is that you must have someone who wants to take these photos. These are obviously difficult games, but someone who has confidence to intensify and make incredible individual games. Walter did that for us tonight.”
The return provided a happy ending to Golden Back to the Bay regionWhere he played at the University in Saint Mary’s and made his debut as a chief coach in San Francisco.
As the last horn resounded, Golden turned to Gators fans and obviously pumped his fist while his players rushed on the field to celebrate.
“It’s crazy,” said striker Thomas Haugh. “I feel like I was dreaming. I watched the 64 year old round in eighth year that sneaks my phone in science lessons while watching it. Now say that I play in the Final Four is wild. It’s wild. ”
Clayton, who began his university career in Iona, scored 30 points to lead the Gators. Thomas Haugh added 20 points and 11 rebounds on the bench, including the two 3 points that started the return.
Clayton then equaled it with his long -term shot after Texas Tech missed a second consecutive frontal end of an ONE and one while Golden asked Gators to be mistaken early to extend the match.
“It was a calculated decision that we had to take at this time when we had to get more goods in the game and that worked well for us,” said Golden.
After Darrius Williams marked low for Texas Tech, the last 3 of Clayton put Florida to stay to stay, and the Gators sealed her on the line of fault.
Williams missed two 3 late. He had poured the basket tied at the end of the regulation and winner of the match in the last seconds of extension against the Arkansas on Thursday evening.
“I would like to be able to change a few pieces that have occurred,” said Williams. “But I can’t go back and do that. I thought we could win until he did not reach Zero.”
Texas Tech fell just short From his second Final Four trip never after being on the wrong side of a return at the end of the match. The Red Raiders gathered 13 points in the last five minutes to beat the Razorbacks in the Sweet 16.
Williams scored 23 points to lead Texas Tech and JT Toppin added 20.
The match was tight most of the time, neither of the two teams could build an advance of more than six points for the first 30 minutes while Texas Tech capitalized on turnover and second chance points and Florida arrived several times on the line of fault. Clayton was a victim of a violation of twice on 3 points at the start of the second half, which led to five points on the six shots.
The Red Raiders carried out a 12-2 race to increase by 10 but could not stay late.
The next
The appearance of the Final Four will be the sixth of Florida. The Gators won consecutive national titles in 2006 and ’07 under coach Billy Donovan.
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