WUFT | By Ethan Eibe
Saturday night at the Chase Center, the Florida Gators chased down some history. Florida is on its way to its sixth Final Four in program history — and its first since 2014 — after defeating Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, 84-79.
Walter Clayton Jr. scored 30 points, Thomas Haugh recorded 20 off the bench, and the Gators came back from down 10 with four minutes to play.
The Gators first Elite Eight berth since 2017 began just as Thursday’s game against Maryland did – with a tightly contested first half. Texas Tech jumped out to an early lead thanks to back-to-back threes from Kerwin Walton. The Red Raiders defense locked down the Gators early on as Florida struggled to find lanes to the basket.
The Florida bench came to life thanks to the efforts of Haugh, who slammed the Gators into the lead late in the half on a breakaway. This helped Florida to a 40-37 lead at the midway point. Haugh later said that playing in the final four is a dream come true.
“I was watching the round of 64 in the eighth grade sneaking my phone into science class watching it,” Haugh said. Now to say I’m playing in the final four is wild. It’s wild.”
The wildness continued in the second half, with Texas Tech surging to the lead. Things looked grim for Florida, until Walter Clayton Jr. once again stepped up in the Gators most desperate hour.
Haugh followed suit with a pair of triples to bring the Gators to within three.
Not to be outdone, Clayton came up in the clutch one more time. First to tie the game, and the second to take the lead for good.
Afterwards, Clayton admitted he was floating on air.
“Nothing was going through my mind,” Clayton said. “my mind was blank. Thankful that the shots went in, but we were locked in until the final buzzer sounded. My mind was blank, honestly.”
Golden took the time to praise the leadership of both Haugh and Clayton.
“At the end of the day, great teams are as good as their players lead them,” Golden said. “Walter has done a great job all year that way, and Tommy played his tail off for us across every game this season. I’m really proud of these guys for the way they stepped up and made two big threes each down the stretch. I think we finished the game on a 17-4 run. That allowed us to win. It would not have happened without these guys next to me.”
The Gators will face the winner of the Auburn-Michigan State Elite Eight matchup on April 5 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Florida is seeking to return to the national championship game for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
Ethan Eibe is a reporter for WUFT News who can be reached by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.
Leave a Reply
