RALEIGH, N.C. — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points and sparked top-seeded Florida’s late-game splurge to oust two-time defending champion UConn 77-75 in the West Region’s second round on Sunday afternoon.
The Gators looked disjointed at times on offense before racking up 18 points across the game’s final three minutes. The eighth-seeded Huskies seemed poised to pull off an upset before their 13-game winning streak in NCAA Tournament games came to a close.
Alijah Martin’s 18 points and Will Richard’s 15 also helped lift the Gators to victory.
Florida (32-4) will meet No. 4 Maryland in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in San Francisco. The Terrapins eked out a 72-71 win over Colorado State later Sunday. The Gators are advancing to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2017.
“The time was now for us to take that next step,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “Again, Florida basketball back where it belongs. Being in the Sweet 16 is a great step in the right direction.”
Liam McNeeley poured in 22 points, Alex Karaban had 14 and Samson Johnson added 10 to pace the Huskies (24-11), who had a late-game escape against Oklahoma two days earlier in the first round. McNeeley’s final shot was a made 3-pointer before the buzzer, but it was too late for UConn to get another possession.
“For it to end … they were going to have to put us down,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “There’s honor in the way we went out.”
Florida was in danger of becoming the first No. 1 regional seed in this year’s tournament to be eliminated, just a week after winning the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Gators trailed with three minutes to play before Clayton’s 3-pointer sparked the late-game surge. The Huskies drew even at 64-64 on a triple by Solo Ball before Alex Condon’s go-ahead free throw with 1:52 to play.
Clayton then added two foul shots and a 3-pointer, suddenly putting the Gators up 70-64 with a display of the firepower the team has shown throughout the season.
“We knew this game wasn’t going to be easy,” Clayton said. “They’ve got a championship pedigree, back-to-back champions. That’s a great team. They had that experience. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We kept our composure.”
UConn clung to a narrow lead for most of the second half. The Huskies’ edge was 61-58 with less than four minutes to play.
Neither team led by more than six points for the game’s first 59 minutes. Florida had only one timeout remaining for the game’s final 11 minutes.
The Huskies went up 52-46 on Tarris Reed’s dunk with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Gators responded, scoring the next five points.
Tied at 31 at halftime, courtesy of Hassan Diarra’s step-back 3-pointer for the Huskies, the game had generally been played at UConn’s preferred tempo. Martin had 14 points by the break, but the Gators had been charged with nine turnovers.
Both teams made four 3-point baskets in the first half, though the Huskies took seven more attempts.
UConn opened the game shooting 3-for-16, but trailed only 11-8 at that juncture.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
