The Houston Cougars came back from down double-digits to beat Duke in the Final Four, and then the reverse happened to them in the national championship game on Monday night.
Houston lost to the Florida Gators 65-63 in the title game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, after blowing a 12-point lead in the second half. Florida took the lead thanks to a pair of Alijah Martin free throws with 46 seconds left and then extended their lead to two (65-63) on a Denzel Aberdeen free throw.
Houston had the ball following a timeout with 19.7 seconds left. They inbounded the ball from under their basket and then crossed halfcourt with over 15 seconds to go. Things went poorly from there.
The Cougars were very slow with the ball and struggled to find someone open. They just didn’t know what to do and gave the ball to Emanuel Sharp, who raised up for a three-point attempt. But Sharp realized his shot was going to be blocked, so he tried to stop himself from shooting. But he let go of the ball and was unable to touch it. His teammates didn’t appear to realize what had happened, which gave Florida an opportunity to dive for the ball to seal the game.
"FLORIDA IS BACK ON TOP OF THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL WORLD!" pic.twitter.com/IeLecOAcSb
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 8, 2025
That is a painful way to go down. Imagine having the national championship on the line and not even being able to get a shot off in 20 seconds. Brutal.
That definitely is not how Kelvin Sampson drew it up.
