Monday night's national championship game between No. 1 seeds Florida and Houston was all basketball fans could have hoped for. The Cougars appeared to have the game in control and led by as many as 12 in the second half before Florida rallied the troops and used some defense of its own to claw its way back into the game.
The finish to the game, though, was not the way Houston envisioned things going at all. Trailing 65-63 after Florida junior Denzel Aberdeen made one of his two free-throw attempts with 19 seconds remaining, Houston could either go for the tie or win it with a 3. The latter appeared to be the choice, as junior Emanuel Sharp got the ball and rose up for the go-ahead shot. As he went up with the ball, though, senior Walter Clayton Jr., the Final Four Most Outstanding Player from Florida, went up to contest. By the time Sharp reacted, his feet had already left the floor as he let go of the ball, leaving him unable to touch it as it would have been a turnover.
Once Florida sophomore Alex Condon fell on the loose ball, time had expired and the Gators had won their third national title in program history after previously going back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. This was the seventh time Houston had reached the Final Four and it still has nothing to show for it. As the confetti filled the stadium and pure joy took over the Florida players, coaching staff and fans, the disappointment was palpable for Houston, as LJ Cryer, the team's leading-scorer for the season and on Monday night, was completely devastated on the Cougars bench following the game.
What head coach Kelvin Sampson had to say following the heartbreaking loss
Before that final play from Houston, Sharp was driving to the basket with 30 seconds remaining and lost the ball off his knee with the Cougars trailing 64-63 at the time. For a team that led by a commanding 12 points in the second half, got up 16 more shots than the Gators and turned the ball over on its last two possessions with zero shot attempts, it did not take long for the emotion to set in, particularly from the 69-year-old Sampson, who would have become the oldest head coach to ever win a national title.
"I'm just going through those last two possessions," Sampson said, per Jordan Mendoza of USA Today. "Incomprehensible in that situation, we couldn't get a shot. Gotta get a shot."
"We didn't score it well enough to win. We scored it well enough to be in a position to win. It comes down to those at the end. You got to get a shot. Got to do better than that."
Sampson did say the plan was for Sharp to get a shot fake and drive into the lane. Any potential foul would have resulted in two free throws because Houston was in the double bonus. Unfortunately for Houston, Sharp had already committed to the shot and time ran out on the Cougars' title hopes.
Houston had a lot to be proud of this season with 35 wins, a Big 12 regular-season and tournament title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the end, it could not get a shot off to give itself a chance and fell agonizingly short of that first national title.