Duke. Houston.
Purdue. Texas Tech.
They’re feeling a sure manner nationwide champion Florida can’t relate to — unable to sense the identical emotional agony of nearly that makes the NCAA Match a one-of-a-kind thrill journey.
Texas Tech led Florida 75–66 late within the West Area ultimate in San Francisco however missed free throws and the lethal offensive onslaught of Walter Clayton Jr. made the Gators winners within the Bay.
Purdue had a “residence” crowd in Indianapolis able to explode with euphoria with valuable ticks left within the Candy 16 earlier than Houston’s misdirection inbounds play caught the Boilermakers off guard and despatched the Cougars to the Elite Eight. They scored a 19-point win over No. 2 seed Tennessee to win the Midwest Area.
However Houston additionally saved some salt for Duke, champions of the East Area and nationwide title favorites coming into the Remaining 4. The Cougars reached the nationwide title recreation with a storied comeback for the ages in San Antonio, erasing a double-digit deficit with lockdown protection that restricted the Blue Devils to at least one area objective within the ultimate 10 minutes, 30 seconds on Saturday.
Like Texas Tech — the final workforce to beat Houston earlier than Monday — the Cougars had Florida useless to rights. Up double digits Monday night time, Houston coughed up the lead and tarnished a season with a fifth and most painful defeat.
As coach Kelvin Sampson lamented late Monday, the Cougars did all the things they wished to do — besides crucial half: ending.
“I informed our guys after the sport to be dissatisfied you misplaced, however don’t be dissatisfied in your effort. Defending Florida is troublesome,” Sampson stated. “We guarded ’em. We held that workforce to 65 factors. Thought if we held Duke to beneath 70, we’d have likelihood to win. I felt like if we held Florida beneath 70, we’d have likelihood to win.
“Saturday we discovered a solution to win. Tonight possibly not a lot.”
One widespread denominator within the painful losses: free throws. The stripe was very important in sinking Texas Tech’s upset bid of Florida. It helped Houston shock Duke and maintain off Purdue and Gonzaga.
Simply when Clayton appeared to have the physique language of a scorer able to play decoy the remainder of the night time, Houston handed him a free (throw) cross on a pair of and-1 finishes, and he led Florida’s comeback by making the freebies. The Gators made 15 of 19 free throws within the second half.
“In all probability put him on the road a bit of an excessive amount of, and so they made their free throws,” Sampson stated.
Houston had each likelihood to put in writing its personal championship ending. The Cougars have been within the bonus for greater than two-thirds of the second half however let the benefit go unclaimed. Houston missed one-third of its 12 second-half free throws and hit simply 6 of 25 from 3-point vary for the sport.
With an opportunity to place Houston up two with 2:05 left, after Joseph Tugler made the primary foul shot, he missed the second. Florida responded with a pair of free throws from Alijah Martin with 46 seconds left, and the second of two from Denzel Aberdeen gave the Gators a 65–63 lead. However Houston’s final possession ended because the earlier three had — with a turnover that sealed the Cougars’ destiny.
“They made another play than we did tonight,” Sampson stated.
And eight extra free throws.
