SAN FRANCISCO — Everyone inside the building at Chase Center on Saturday knew if push came to shove, first-team All-America guard Walter Clayton Jr. would take the shot.
Clayton knew he had to take it. His Florida teammates believed he would make it.
Some moments in March during the NCAA Tournament are so unforgettable they leave you speechless and have you searching for the same highlight a decade from now. Clayton’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 59 seconds left, which erased a 10-point deficit with 6:18 remaining and helped No. 1 seed Florida secure a dramatic 84-79 win over No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, is one of those magical March memories that will live on for eternity.
“There is no one else we would rather have take that shot at the end of the game,” Florida center Alex Condon told CBS Sports. “He has that clutch gene. Every time we need a shot from him, it comes from him … We have guys who have big nuts on this team and are willing to take the big shot. He’s one of those guys.”
Down two with a minute left, Clayton dribbled into the paint, pulled the ball out from inside the arc, and in rhythm took a 3-pointer falling back that spun inside the cylinder before dropping in the hoop. Clayton scored 13 of his 30 points during the final 5:24 in regulation, which set up a date in next weekend’s national semifinal in San Antonio against the winner of No. 1 seed Auburn and No. 2 seed Michigan State.
“I was just hoping the ball went in,” Clayton said. “We kept telling each other we had been in his situation before. We came together and got the job done. I grew up in Florida, so this means a little more to me.”
After being down by nine points with less than three minutes to go, Florida — a team that had looked untouchable and unbeatable during the last month — was on the ropes. Then, reserve big man Thomas Haugh jump-started the run with back-to-back 3-pointers. Clayton followed it up with the second-biggest 3-pointer he would hit in the final two minutes to tie the game at 75.
“The under-four media (timeout) was the one that sticks out,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We were down nine or 10, whatever it was. The message was we’ve got to make every winning play down the stretch.”
If Clayton going on a late tear sounds familiar, it’s because it is. This is what he does. Six days ago, he the senior put defending national champ UConn on ice in a thrilling Round of 32 game. From David Cobb’s CBSSports.com dispatch:
The two-time reigning national champions proceeded to hold the lead for nearly the entire second half, threatening to eliminate the hottest team in college basketball on the opening weekend of the Big Dance.
Then, Walter Clayton Jr. came alive. Florida’s senior point guard asserted his will down the stretch to power the No. 1 seed Gators to a thrilling 77-75 victory. His heroics included a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:54 remaining, a pair of clutch free throws and a dagger 3-pointer at the 1:07 mark that effectively buried the Huskies for good.
“At the end, my teammates were trusting me with the ball in my hand to be able to shoot that shot, so I appreciate them for that trust and just sticking with it,” Clayton said.
Well before this tournament and season began, Clayton had a natch of making clutch shots. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament last spring, Clayton drilled a game-tying 3-pointer with 11 seconds left before Colorado star KJ Simpson spoiled the ending with a clutch shot of his own.
Clayton bypassed the 2024 NBA Draft and returned to school after a successful first season in Gainesville. Before he arrived at Florida, he was a mid-major star at Iona under coach Rick Pitino. A date with his former coach in the Elite Eight would’ve been possible had St. John’s not lost to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Clayton averaged 17.7 points, 4.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds en route to the Gators winning 34 games and counting heading into the final weekend of the college basketball season.
Clayton’s final season of college basketball has seen him earn first-team All-American honors while drawing comparisons to Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry for his shotmaking ability.
“Just like the Warriors want Steph to be able to find a way to get open, get shots in those moments, we want (Walter) taking those shots for us down the stretch,” Golden said. “There’s a reason why he was AP First-Team All-American. He’s, in my humble estimation, the best guard in America.”
Take it from the coach. When the game was on the line Saturday night in the house that Steph built, there wasn’t any doubt about who was getting the rock.
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