Florida vs. UConn score, takeaways: (1) Gators survive, advance past reigning champions into Sweet 16

Basketball

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Image Credit: Maddie Washburn, UAA

March Madness began Sunday afternoon with a meeting of the last back-to-back national champions. After 40 minutes, it was the No. 1 seed Florida Gators ensuring the No. 8 seed UConn Huskies would not have a chance to three-peat.

Despite being tied at halftime and trailing with less than 4 minutes remaining, Florida survived and advanced past UConn completing a 77-75 come-from-behind win in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

The Gators, which struggled on both ends of the court through most of the game, found their shooting stroke and momentum in the waining minutes as they surged to victory. That switch came largely behind the heroics of senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. — the first unanimous All-America first team selection in program history — and redshirt senior guard Alijah Martin, who kept UF afloat for much of the game.

Florida advances to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017 and keeps alive hopes of returning to the Final Four after 11 years of being removed from competing for a national championship.

Let’s take a look at what went down as the Gators took care of business late with some Fastbreak Takeaways.

It was over when … sophomore forward Thomas Haugh made two free throws to push Florida ahead by 5 points with 5 seconds to play. Given the Gators missed 12 free throws in the second half, Haugh’s gimmies were no sure thing and as clutch of a possession as any they had in the game.

UConn opened the second half on a 7-1 run (10-1 spanning halftime) to take a 6-point lead as Florida went 6:47 across the break without making a field goal and missed four straight free throws. Senior guard Will Richard broke out of a slump by scoring seven straight, and the Gators used a 7-1 stretch to pull within a basket inside 8 minutes.

Florida took its first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer from Walter Clayton Jr. with 2:54 left and never again fell behind. Two free throws and another clutch trey from Clayton helped the Gators extended their lead to 8 points as part of a 14-3 run spanning nearly 3 minutes. Twice during the sequence, Florida missed free throws; both times, it grabbed the offensive rebounds and scored a pair of points — one an emphatic jam by Martin with 41 seconds left.

Though the Gators maintained that three-shot lead with 21 seconds on the clock, they allowed an immediate layup and fouled on consecutive possessions, seeing that advantage cut in half. Richard went 1 of 2 from the line, opening the door for UConn, which cut its deficit to 3 points after an unconscionable foul from Clayton with 6.7 seconds left. Haugh’s free throws made a buzzer-beating triple irrelevant.

First half focus: Martin started and remained hot for the Gators scoring nine of their first 11 points and nearly half of the team total by the break. This as Clayton got off to a slow start not hitting his first basket until 5 minutes left in the half and only shooting 2 of 7 in the period. Compounding problems for Florida were five turnovers in the first 6 minutes and eight total before halftime. Coupled with second-chance opportunities UConn created through nine offensive rebounds — taking advantage of unusually poor UF defensive paint presence — the Huskies were able overcome a 1 of 12 shooting start and keep the game close.

The teams ultimately sat tied 31-31 entering the locker rooms as UConn drained a deep prayer 3-pointer on its final possession to beat the shot clock before an open corner 3-pointer from Richard rimmed out at the buzzer. The Huskies on-ball defense against Clayton — keeping him from finding any semblance of rhythm — coupled with their ability to take the Gators’ bigs out of the game and UConn constantly getting wide-open looks from downtown saw the underdogs executing Dan Hurley’s game plan better than Florida did that of head coach Todd Golden.

Exceptional efforts: Clayton scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half hitting all three of his attempts from downtown during the period after looking lost offensively to open the game. He finished 5 of 8 from deep and 6 of 7 from the line, but the performance was not all positive from the straw that stirs the Gators’ drink. Clayton went just 1 of 6 from inside the arc — missing multiple shots at the rim — committed four fouls and gave up five turnovers for the fifth time this season. Two of UF’s four losses have come when Clayton has coughed the ball up five times, and he’s now been so careless with the rock twice in the team’s last five games (with a third, frustrating four-turnover performance as well).

Martin played the most complete and near-flawless game of anyone on the court; he carried the water for Florida in the first half ultimately finishing with 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting alongside 4 rebounds, 3 assists and nary a foul or turnover. Richard, who opened NCAA Tournament play just 1 of 9 from the floor, made 4 of 6 shots in the second half (2 of 3 from long range) to compile 15 points. He and Clayton combined to hit 11 of 13 free throws, but Richard also committed three giveaways.

Including his final free throws, Haugh was strong at the line hitting 5 of 6 attempts for 7 points with a team-high 7 boards. Sophomore F Alex Condon matched with 7 boards but went just 3 of 8 from the line as his offensive struggles continued.

Odds & ends: Florida improved to 2-5 all-time against UConn breaking a five-game losing streak with its first victory since the 1994 NCAA Tournament … the Gators are now 2-1 against the Huskes during March Madness losing in the 2014 Final Four … UF improved to 47-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, 11-6 in the second round … Florida is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2017 after losing three straight second-round games … the Gators are now 12-1 as a No. 1 seed having advanced to the Final Four on both prior occasions (2007, 2014) … Clayton has made a 3-pointer in 58 consecutive games, a program record … Clayton passed Nick Calathes for the sixth-highest single-season point total in team history (625) behind only himself (last season), Andy Owens, Neal Walk (twice) and Vernon Maxwell

Florida under Golden rarely improved to 2-3 when trailing at halftime (1-0 this season) and 4-27 when tailing with 5 minutes left (2-4) … the Gators under Golden improved to 53-10 when outrebounding an opponent (26-3), 50-8 when shooting 45% or better from the field (23-2), 64-7 when outshooting an opponent (28-1),23-4 when shooting 40% or better from 3-point range (10-0), 59-8 when outshooting an opponent from 3-point range (29-0) and 49-16 when attempting more free throws (15-4)

What it means: This was not a great performance by Florida, which flirted with disaster far too often and would have been beaten Sunday if UConn had any ability to generate offense in the first half. The Huskies were the tougher, more disciplined and more active rebounding team for the vast majority of the game. Hurley understood that Clayton is turnover prone and can be taken out with aggression, which played until it didn’t in the final 3 minutes. The Gators bigs were outworked in the post, almost single-handedly by Hassan Diarra, until he got in foul trouble and they decided to hunker down over the closing stretch. UConn grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and won paint scoring 32-24.

Florida’s inability to get clean looks held it to 12 assists on 23 baskets with its point guards generating just one dime compared to six turnovers in the contest. Furthermore, UF was absolutely horrendous from the charity stripe in the second half, missing 12 gimmies as UConn went 14 of 16 from the line over the latter 20 minutes to keep itself in the game.

In basically every way, the Gators played losing basketball … and yet, they still won. Florida’s rebounding on both ends improved drastically down the stretch, and it made six straight baskets over the final 5:06 after not making more than two in a row at any prior point in the game. Richard’s huge triples in the second half should not be overlooked as he kept UF afloat until Clayton found himself.

The Gators have now been seriously tested over their last 54 minutes of basketball since late in the first half against Norfolk State. They should have hopefully learned some important lessons about what it takes to win on this stage before they hit the court again.

What’s next? Florida will play (4) Maryland in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in San Francisco. The game will tip off at 7:39 p.m. ET and air live on TBS with Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy and Lauren Shehadi on the call.