RALEIGH, N.C. – At the under-four minute media timeout, the Florida Gators went to their bench trailing two-time defending national champion Connecticut by three points. They’d played from behind since the first basket of the second half broke a tie score. They’d blown defensive assignments, missed a bevy of free throws and not only were running out of chances but running out of time. 
 
Coach Todd Golden‘s message was as plain as the situation was desperate. One of the greatest seasons in UF basketball history was on the brink.
 
“It’s now or never, man,” Golden told his guys. “If we can’t find a way to pull back out in front these next few minutes, we’re going home.”
 
No one was sure who spoke up next. Maybe it was point guard Walter Clayton Jr. Maybe it was one of the other senior stalwarts, Alijah Martin or Will Richard, or maybe it was everybody in the huddle in unison. Whoever it was, the message was clear.

“It’s winning time,” they said. 

 

Saying it was the easy part. But over the next minute-plus, the Gators and their passionate coach spoke it into existence.

 

“We just persevered,” sophomore forward Thomas Haugh said. “And we got Walter Clayton Jr. on our team.” 

 

Clayton, the first-team All-American, scored eight of his game-high 23 points over the next two minutes, including a pair of dagger 3-pointers that helped turn that late three-point deficit into an eight-point cushion that was enough for No. 1-seed UF to close out a draining 77-75 second-round NCAA West Region victory Sunday at Lenovo Center that advanced the team to the tournament’s “Sweet 16” round for the first time since 2017. 

 

The Gators (32-4), winners of eight straight and 14 of the previous 15, will play either 4-seed Maryland (27-8) Thursday night at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Terrapins defeated 12-seed Colorado State 72-71 at the buzzer in Seattle.

 

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— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 23, 2025

 Martin, the fifth-year Florida Atlantic transfer, scored 18 points, including four during the late run, while guard Will Richard had 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals. UF shot 46 percent for the game, but 54 during the second half and needed to during an afternoon of going just 22 of 34 at the free-throw line, including an eyesore 15 of 27 in the second half (55.6%). The Gators, though, defended at 37.5% for the game, surrendering just eight of 29 from distance (27.6%).
 
“We made winning play after winning play down the stretch the last six minutes after about 34 minutes of it not looking like it was going to go our way,” said Golden, whose team trailed by four, 55-51, inside seven minutes remaining. “That’s the benefit of having three great senior leaders in the back court and some young, hungry front court players that will give their all to compete every play. It wasn’t pretty for the majority of the game for us … but our players delivered.” 
 
The Gators used a run of six consecutive points to surge in front by three. The battle-tested, championship-pedigree Huskies (24-11) immediately tied the game with a 3-pointer, but UF answered with a second run, this one 10-2, to roll up by eight, then weather a flurry of fouls and free throws in the final seconds.
 
Clayton, held to 10 points through the first 30 minutes, was spectacular in making six of 14 shots, all but one of them 3s, to go with a 6-for-7 performance at the free-throw line. He also had five turnovers, which contributed to the anxious tenor for everyone wearing orange and blue. He made up for those miscues when it mattered most. 
 
“Credit Clayton,” an emotional UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “He made some NBA level 3s off the dribble to beat us. It took that for somebody to put us down in this tournament after winning, obviously, a bunch in a row.” 
 
Thirteen, actually, dating to the 2023 Tournament, a run the Huskies started with a win over Iona in the first round. Iona’s point guard was Clayton. Talk about a full-circle moment. 
 
“We stayed the course,” said Clayton, acknowledging the team was probably feeling a little bit of the 1-seed pressure as the Huskies – with their action-heavy moving offense and ability to crash the offensive glass – seemingly controlled the bulk of the second half. “You may not have been able to tell from the outside, but we came back to the huddle a couple times and told each other, ‘We have to get a stop! We have to be better at this and better at that!’ There were moments we were getting on each other, but in a good way.” 

For the first 38 minutes, the biggest lead either team enjoyed was six, with UConn guard Hassan Diarra tying the game at 31-all with a 30-foot 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half. The Huskies shot just 32% for the half and went 4-for-18 from deep (22%) but were dead even with the nation’s fourth-ranked team at the break.
 
To that point, Clayton had eight points with as many turnovers as field goals (2).
 
“Obviously, they were bothering him with some pressure … making him make some uncharacteristic mistakes, some turnovers that we haven’t seen for the majority of the year, not as strong with the ball as he usually plays with,” Golden said. “But what makes Walter so special is his ability to stay even keeled regardless of how he’s doing, whether it’s great or not so great. His ability to continue to lock in and stay the course.”

It was well into the second half, though, before Clayton turned the game. Huskies center Samson Johnson (10 points, 10 rebounds) started the period with back-to-back baskets, and after UF forward Alex Condon (5 points, 7 rebounds) made one of two free throws, UConn freshman forward Liam McNeeley (team-high 22 points) converted an old-time 3-point play to push his team in front by six with 18 minutes to go. 
 
The Gators basically chased for the next 15 minutes. UConn, like the bulk of the first half, dictated virtually every facet, especially tempo. The Huskies ran clock and frustrated the Gators out of their breakneck pace with back-door cuts or by drawing late-clock fouls. 
 
“I don’t know that we could have managed the game better than we did,” Hurley said. “We dragged them into the type of game that we wanted to drag them into. We kind of dragged them into a Big East [Conference], low-possession game. It did not resemble a [Southeastern Conference] game.”
 
And the Gators in no way resembled the team that finished second in the nation’s best league, then steamrolled to the SEC Tournament championship last weekend.
 
Then they did. 
 
“We flipped the script in winning time,” Golden said. 
 
Four times in the second half, the Huskies were up six, the last time inside nine minutes to go. Two Rueben Chinyelu free throws and a Clayton 3 got the margin down to one. UF got another stop and had a chance to take the lead in transition, but Martin’s attempt at a run-out dunk – he might have left the floor a tad too soon – banged off the back of the rim. UConn’s ensuing possession ended with a 3 from guard Solo Ball for a 55-51 advantage. 
 
Then came a Richard 3-pointer inside seven minutes. From there, it was back-and-forth, Huskies by either three or one, until the Gators huddled up, down 61-58 with 3:41 to go. 
 
Cue winning time. 
 
“We just got back to what we do,” Richard said. “We have trust in each other. The three senior guards, we have a lot of experience, and we did a great job trying to keep everybody calm throughout those moments.”

Condon made one of two free throws to make it a two-point game. UConn junior forward Alex Karaban (14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists), with 109 starts and two NCAA titles on his resume, missed a driving layup that Clayton answered with his first of those two clutch late 3s, giving Florida its first lead since late first half, at 62-61 with 2:50 to play. 
 
“His confidence level never wavers regardless of what’s going on,” Golden said of his star.
 
At the Huskies end, just mere seconds later, McNeeley was stripped by Richard, with Condon grabbing the ball and air-mailing ir up the floor to a running-out Richard for a dunk and 64-61 lead that sent the UF bench and faithful behind it into a tizzy. 
 
Ball’s second 3, however, instantly tied the score at 64. At UF’s end, Condon made the first of two free throws, but his second miss was punched by Martin, grabbed by Haugh and shoveled to Clayton, who drove the lane, was fouled and made two free throws to take lead back to three.
 
“That’s just us wanting to win,” Richard said. “To win games like that, you’ve got to make big plays and we had had multiple guys step up. Everybody that was on the court impacted the game.” 
 
After an errant Karaban 3 for the tie, Clayton curled around a screen and threw in a ridiculous fall-away 3 to go up by six with 1:03 to left. 
 
“Most people aren’t made for that,” Martin said. “Walt definitely is.”

The next big Florida play was made for and by Martin. After a McNeely basket drew the Huskies back to six, Condon missed two free throws with 43.4 seconds to go. Again, the Gators crashed on the second miss, this time with Martin grabbing the loose ball, reeling toward the basket and seeing a wide-open alley. His two-handed throw-down was violent – and gave UF six straight made field goals – and pushed Florida ahead by eight. Another winning player making another winning play. 
 
McNeeley’s driving bucket with 28 seconds to go and Martin’s two free throws at 21.6 canceled each other out. UConn kept coming, kept fouling and, unfortunately for the Gators, kept getting fouled and making free throws – with the clock stopped – and trailed just 75-72 after two McNeeley free throws with 6.6 to go.
 
Haugh was fouled on the ensuing inbound, walked the length of the floor and calmly sank a pair with 5.9 seconds remaining for a five-point lead, which made McNeeley’s 3-pointer at the buzzer moot.
 
The Gators’ reward is a cross-country trip to the “City by the Bay,” where two games will separate them from a berth in the Final Four. 
 
“We all know the reality, if you’re going to make a deep run in March, you’ve got to catch some breaks, and you’ve got to win some games like this to be able to push through and stay alive,” Golden said. “Theoretically, beating a team like UConn, that’s used to winning this time of year, in the fashion that we did, should be really good for us moving forward.”
 
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu