Raleigh, N.C. — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points and sparked top-seeded Florida’s late-game splurge to oust two-time defending champion UConn 77-75 in the West Region’s second round on Sunday afternoon.
The Gators looked disjointed at times on offense before racking up 18 points across the game’s final three minutes. The eighth-seeded Huskies seemed poised to pull off an upset before their 13-game winning streak in NCAA Tournament games came to a close.
Alijah Martin’s 18 points and Will Richard’s 15 also helped lift the Gators to victory.
Florida (32-4) will meet Colorado State or Maryland in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in San Francisco.
Liam McNeeley poured in 22 points, Alex Karaban had 14 and Samson Johnson added 10 to pace the Huskies (24-11), who had a late-game escape against Oklahoma two days earlier in the first round. McNeeley’s final shot was a made 3-pointer, but it was too late for UConn to get another possession.
Florida was in danger of becoming the first No. 1 regional seed in this year’s tournament to be eliminated, just a week since winning the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Gators trailed with three minutes to play before Clayton’s 3-pointer sparked the late-game surge. The Huskies drew even at 64-64 before Alex Condon’s go-ahead free throw with 1:52 to play.
Clayton then added two foul shots and a 3-pointer, suddenly putting the Gators up 70-64 with a display of the firepower the team has shown throughout the season.
UConn clung to a narrow lead for most of the second half. The Huskies’ edge was 61-58 with less than four minutes to play.
Neither team led by more than six points for the game’s first 59 minutes, though Florida had only one timeout remaining for the game’s final 11 minutes.
The Huskies went up 52-46 on Reed’s dunk with less than 10 minutes remaining. The Gators responded, scoring the next five points.
Tied at 31, courtesy of Hassan Diarra’s step-back 3-pointer for the Huskies, at halftime, the game had generally been played at UConn’s preferred tempo. Martin had 14 points by the break, but the Gators had been charged with nine turnovers.
Both teams made four 3-point baskets in the first half, though the Huskies took seven more attempts.
UConn opened the game shooting 3-for-16, but trailed only 11-8 at that juncture.
