Florida Gators Win Their 3rd National Championship, Beat the Houston Cougars

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There are 68 teams, and it went down to only two teams in the 2025 NCAA championship game. The number one seed, the Houston Cougars, were trying to win their first tournament, and the number one seed, the Florida Gators, were trying to win their third one. This is the Houston Cougars’ third appearance, but they have never won the championship. The Florida Gators were going for their third NCAA title. They will battle for the basketball title on Monday, April 7, 2025.

Florida defeated Houston 65-63 to take home the school’s third national title in the national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday night in front of a capacity crowd of 66,602. The Gators pulled off an amazing comeback, with a close margin, according to NPR.org.https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5355078/florida-gators-houston-cougars-mens-basketball-ncaa-champions Houston was leading throughout the game, and the Cougars dominated the Gators in the first half.

Houston led 60-57 with under four to play. The Cougars have led for over 29 minutes to Florida’s 17 seconds in front, but the Gators are hanging around, according to CBS.com.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-gators-win-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament-houston-cougars/

The two are trading buckets, and taking care of the ball as Florida has just four turnovers in the second half. But fouls are stacking up as Florida sits in the double bonus, and the Gators are two fouls away from putting the Cougars there as well, according to CBS.com.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-gators-win-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament-houston-cougars/

Walter Clayton Jr. finished with 11 points, all in the second half, but what he’ll be but at the close of the game, he stopped Houston’s Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of the court as he tried to go for the game-winning 3 in the final seconds, according to CBS News.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-gators-win-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament-houston-cougars/

The Cougars dominated the Gators at the start, leading to the lowest-scoring first half of a men’s national title game since 2011

Clayton ran at him, Sharp dropped the ball and, unable to pick it up lest he get called for traveling, watched it bounce there while the clock ticked to zero. The Cougars and coach Kelvin Sampson were denied their first championship, according to CBS News.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-gators-win-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament-houston-cougars/

Gators coach Todd Golden, 39, became “the youngest men’s basketball coach to win an NCAA title since North Carolina State’s Jim Valvano in 1983”, according to NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5355078/florida-gators-houston-cougars-mens-basketball-ncaa-champions

This is the Gators’ third NCAA men’s basketball championship. They previously won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.