SAN FRANCISCO — Given that he was compared earlier this week to the Bay Area’s favorite 3-point shooter, it makes sense that in a tight game, with his team’s national championship hopes slipping away, Walter Clayton Jr. would be the one to take — and make — the biggest shot of the night.
Florida is headed to the Final Four after an 84-79 win over Texas Tech, and it’s due largely to Clayton’s timely shot-making.
After two consecutive one-and-one misses from Texas Tech, Clayton stepped back, pulled up and drained a 3 with 1:47 to play, tying the score at 75.
Or maybe the biggest shot was the 3-pointer Clayton hit just 48 seconds later, after Tech had regained the lead, 77-75. That make gave Florida the lead back, 78-77, and then, after a missed 3 by Tech’s Darrion Williams, a couple of made free throws from Florida and another missed 3 by Williams, Clayton stepped to the line with 10.2 seconds to play, his team up a possession, 80-77. He drained both.
The senior guard from Florida, who was named the most outstanding player of the West Regional, finished with 30 points, eight in the final 107 seconds. He also went 13-of-14 from the line, including 11-of-12 in the second half.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact that before those two huge 3s, Clayton was just 1-of-6 from deep. That he would step up and hit shots when his team needed them most is, in fact, very Steph Curry-like.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said that he didn’t “do a good enough job keeping the ball out of Clayton’s hands” the last five minutes, praising the guard for his craftiness and change of pace, all of which make him “such a hard cover.”
Tech did nearly everything right for 38 minutes, but the missed free throws gave the Gators life, and the sliver of daylight Clayton found in his stepback was enough to win the game.
The Red Raiders finished 7-of-13 from the free-throw line (54 percent). The Gators were 25-of-27 (93 percent).
“That’s not what got us beat,” McCasland said of the missed foul shots. “We pushed the tempo a little too much late in the game.”
Thomas Haugh scored 20 points for Florida and snagged 11 rebounds, and Alijah Martin chipped in 10 points and seven boards. Haugh was named to the West Regional all-tournament team.
The last couple of weeks, two stat categories had doomed Florida’s opponents: offensive rebounding and second-chance points. But Texas Tech actually grabbed more offensive boards (14 to 11) and dominated on second-chance points (23 to eight), which is why the Raiders led for more than 24 minutes on Saturday.
Williams led Tech with 23 points, and JT Toppin, the Big 12 player of the year, had 20 points and 11 rebounds. But he was 0-for-5 from the line, strange considering he shot 70 percent for the season. Toppin also took an ill-advised 3 with 5:32 to play that led to Clayton’s first made 3 of the game.
It’s the Gators’ first trip back to college basketball’s promised land since 2014.
This has been one of the chalkiest NCAA Tournaments in nearly two decades. The eight teams playing in the Elite Eight on Saturday and Sunday have a seed total of 13 (only one more than the minimum), tying a record set in 2007. That year, Florida was also a No. 1 seed and won the second of back-to-back national championships.
(Photo of Walter Clayton Jr.: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
