April 8, 2025
When we went down 12 in the second half, we stayed the course. We didn’t point fingers, didn’t start to try to make hero plays, gambling defensively. We got rewarded because of that toughness that we displayed.
Florida Gators Head Coach Todd Golden after the team won the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game on Monday night. The win marks Florida’s first championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.
Why It Matters: Florida beat the University of Houston 65-63. The Houston Cougars led throughout the first half, but the Gators overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half and took the lead in the final dramatic minute of the game. Coach Golden, 39, became the youngest coach in more than 40 years to win a national title; in 1983, North Carolina State’s Jim Valvano won at age 37.
The Houston Cougars had been looking for their first title. Cougars forward J’Wan Roberts, who finished his last season, expressed regret at not being able to secure the win for his coach: “I wanted it so bad for him. And it hurts cause I can’t do it next year.”
Read More: Florida rallies once again to beat Houston for NCAA title (ESPN)
Photo Credit: Florida Gators / X
by Emily Hooker, based in Texas
