Houston rallies like mad, meets Florida for NCAA title

Houston's Joseph Tugler slams one off Duke's Khaman Maluach in their national semifinals. —AP

SAN ANTONIO—Florida has gone from being picked to finish sixth in the rugged Southeastern Conference to pushing all the way to the final Monday night of the season.

Now, the Gators face a Houston team that just pushes teams around with its suffocating defense.

Big 12 champion Houston and Florida will meet in the national championship game at Alamodome to wrap up only the second NCAA Tournament when all the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four.

Still, this title game matchup is quite a surprise, and features two teams that haven’t been this far in a long time.

The Cougars (35-4) won their semifinal game on Saturday night by overcoming a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes for a 70-67 stunner over Duke and freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, the Associated Press (AP) national player of the year.

Houston’s Emanuel Sharp (21) goes up for a shot against Duke during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

“It was an incredible season,” Flagg, fighting back tears after a 27-point showing, said as he turns pro. “Incredible people, incredible relationships that I’m going to have for the rest of my life.

“Didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but still an incredible year,” added Flagg, who missed a jumper in the waning seconds that doomed Duke’s quest for a sixth NCAA title.

Florida (35-4), with AP All-America guard Walter Clayton Jr. scoring 34 points, only had to come back from eight points down after halftime in its 79-73 win over SEC rival Auburn.

Houston, which has an 18-game winning streak, is in its first national championship game since back-to-back appearances in 1983 and 1984 during the Phi Slama Jamma era.

This is Florida’s first since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 under Billy Donovan. The Gators, with third-year coach Todd Golden, have an 11-game winning streak since a loss in Georgia at the end of February.

Last loss

The Cougars have won 30 of their last 31 games since two overtime losses over three days in a tournament in Las Vegas at the end of November. Their only loss since was 82-81 in OT on Feb. 1 to Texas Tech, an Elite Eight team. Their other loss this season: 74-69 to Auburn in the second game.

Coach Kelvin Sampson and Houston also made the Final Four four years ago, losing to eventual champion Baylor in the national semifinal in the NCAA tourney in a bubble in Indianapolis because of the COVID-19 pandemic. LJ Cryer, now Houston’s leading scorer, was a freshman for the Bears on that title team.