Houston defeats Houston to claim 2025 NCAA title. It came down to the final play of the game to determine the new champion. With four seconds on the clock, the entire Alamodome stood still. Both Florida and Houston paused. Emanuel Sharp had gone up to shoot a potential winning 3 with 4.9 seconds left but was forced to adjust due to Walter Clayton Jr. Sharp dropped the ball with 4.2 seconds left, hoping a teammate would pick it up and bail him out. But nobody moved, not a Houston player nor a Florida player. The Florida Gators were national champions, erasing a 12-point second-half deficit before holding on for a 65-63 win over Houston.

Houston had just four turnovers in the first 36:35 of Monday’s game but gave it away five times in the final 3:24 — including three times in the final minute. During one stretch in the second half, Florida got stops on nine straight Houston possessions. Clayton was the X-factor coming into this game. Clayton took what Houston’s defense did give him, racking up seven assists before he scored his first point. The guard quickly came to life and asserted himself into the game. He finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, winning the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award. Monday marked Florida’s third national championship since 2006 and made the 39-year-old Golden the youngest head coach to win a title since Jim Valvano guided NC State to a championship in 1983. My pick between Houston and Florida was that the Cougars would finally cut down the nets.

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