As painful as it is to lose in the final seconds of the national championship game, it’s even worse when you can’t even get a potential game-tying or game-winning shot off.
It happened twice for Houston on Monday night. Down by one with 30 seconds left, guard Emanuel Sharp drove to the basket and lost the handle of the ball. It went off his knee and gave Florida possession and a chance to extend the lead. Houston received life when Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen made one of two free-throw attempts, keeping the window open for a championship-winning shot.
Instead, the ball never went up. Florida pressured the perimeter as Houston looked for a shot. Sharp was about to pull up for one when Walter Clayton Jr. closed out and caused hesitation. Sharp’s feet left the floor as the ball left his hands, unable to touch it again or it be a turnover. Florida pounced on it and the clock hit zero to secure the national championship, and end Houston’s season in heartbreaking fashion.
A national championship was in Houston’s sight when it led by 12 points in the second half, and even when it had the ball last. It ended with two turnovers and zero shot attempts.
Now, the end of the game will be the biggest ‘what if?’ in program history.
‘I’m just going through those last two possessions,’ said head coach Kelvin Sampson. ‘Incomprehensible in that situation, we couldn’t get a shot. Gotta get a shot.
‘We didn’t score it well enough to win. We scored it well enough to be in a position to win. It comes down to those at the end. You got to get a shot. Got to do better than that.’
It’s a moment that likely will haunt Sharp and the Cougars for quite some time. Sharp remained on the court as Florida celebrated the national championship, and even though he caused it, Clayton made sure to check in on the Houston sharpshooter afterward.
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Sampson elaborated his team was struggling to score the entire second half despite having clean looks, but the plan for the final possessions was for Sharp to get a shot fake and drive toward the basket. He was comfortable with going for the tie to force overtime. Sharp did try the fake, only he committed too much and left his feet and Clayton went for a potential block. He credited the defensive pressure for forcing Sharp into the costly mistake.
‘Clayton made a great play on that, but that’s why you got to shot fake and get in the paint,’ Sampson said.
If you heard Clayton made the critical play at the end to get Florida its third national championship, most would assume it would’ve been a game-winning shot given his incredible offensive output this tournament. He spent most of Monday night unable to score and his late flurry propelled the comeback, but the close out sealed the victory for the Gators.
Forward Alex Condon said it was a great defensive play by Clayton to force Sharp into the blunder. Condon was the one that dove on the ball and got the ball away as the buzzer went off.
Clayton said he saw ‘a lot going on’ on the final possession, but he saw a back screen set up and called for it, but Sharp ended up getting open. Clayton then took it in his own hands to defend the shot, and relied on something the team practiced on.
‘We work on it in practice. Kind of closing out, jumping to the side, so you don’t foul foul the shooter. He kind of pumped fake, threw the ball down, ended up being a good play,’ Clayton said.
Once the ball touched the floor, Clayton said he knew Sharp couldn’t touch it again. So did the rest of the Gators, as Condon dove on the floor and shut the door on Houston’s last chance.
‘We was just trying to get a stop, and we ended up getting it, getting a win,’ Clayton said.
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