After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Florida Gators played stifling defense and made timely buckets in their 65-63 victory over the Houston Cougars to claim their third NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament title in program history.
Houston entered the final minute of action leading 63-62, but Florida was able to pull ahead 65-63 on three made free throws.
Houston got the ball back with under 20 seconds left, down two, which gave the Cougars the chance to take the lead or tie the game. In the final seconds, Houston's Emanuel Sharp attempted a pump fake, but put the ball on the floor, meaning he could not touch it again without being called for a travel.
As players from both teams scrambled to grab the loose ball, Gators center Alex Condon dove for it as time expired, sealing the victory for Florida.
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The Gators only led twice during Monday's game; the first lead came at 8-6 with 4:23 left in the first half. Florida would not regain the lead until there were 46 seconds remaining in the game, when Alijah Martin made two free throws to give the Gators a 64-63 lead.
This year's March Madness was noted for its relative lack of upsets. All four regions were represented by their No. 1 seeds for just the second time. With the four best teams in the tournament advancing to the Final Four, the tournament culminated in three thrilling matchups that all featured late-game comebacks.
Florida advanced to the title game by defeating Auburn, while Houston took advantage of a late-game meltdown by Duke to reach the championship.
Monday's matchup featured a generational contest between 39-year-old Florida coach Todd Golden and 71-year-old Kelvin Sampson. Golden was a college junior at St. Mary's when Florida last won a title in 2007.
"We have an incredibly talented group, one of the most talented groups individually in America," Golden said. "I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent—how our guys have played together and for each other all year. Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives."
The ending was a disappointing one for Sampson, who completed his 36th season as a head coach in college basketball. Despite 2025 marking his 20th visit to the NCAA Tournament, he is still looking for his first national championship.
"Again, we're disappointed we lost. We thought this was a game that, if we played well, we could win. And we did play well. We just didn't play very good the last three minutes. That's been a strength of ours all year long was winning close games. But tonight, we didn't," Sampson said.
