SAN FRANCISCO — Given that he was compared to his Bay Area favorite 3-point shooter earlier this week, it makes sense for Walter Clayton Jr. to score the biggest shot of the night in hopes of running away at his team’s national championships.
Florida heads for the Final Four after an 84-79 victory at Texas Tech. This is largely due to Clayton’s timely shot-making.
After making two consecutive 1-1 mistakes from Texas Tech, Clayton retreated and played up 3 at 1:47, tied the score at 75 on the biggest shot of his career.
Alternatively, the biggest shot was a 3-pointer Clayton hit just 48 seconds after Tech regained a lead of 77-75. This gave Florida a 78-77 lead, then missed three to Tech’s Darrion Williams, followed by a few free throws from Florida and one more, Clayton stepped onto the line in 10.2 seconds, bringing his team up to 80-77. He drained both.
But Clayton doesn’t remember much of this. He was then asked about those shots, and he was brutally honest, as his championship hat slammed diagonally across his head, wrapping the net around the snapback.
But certainly everyone else at the gym remembers this performance. The Florida senior guard was selected as the best player in the Western Region, finishing with 30 points and 8 points in the final 107 seconds. He also went 14-13 from the line, including 11 in the second half.
Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that before these two huge threes, Clayton was only a sixth from the Deep. It’s actually quite Stepf Curry that he step up and hit shots when his team needed them the most.
Florida coach Todd Golden said the towel was hung over his shoulder after an obvious festive water bottle shower in the locker room.
“Like he said, he’s black and so on – he’s not too high or too low. He does a great job of controlling his emotions. Most players at that moment have a heart rate rising.
Or, like Thomas Howe said, he’s making a gesture to Clayton.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCusland praised the guards for his cleverness and changing pace, saying he “doesn’t do enough work to protect the ball from Clayton’s hands” for the final five minutes.
Tech did almost everything right for 38 minutes, but the missed free throws brought the Gators to life, and the daytime Clayton sliver found in his stepback was enough to win the game.
Clayton said he doesn’t completely absorb how big those shots are because he’s trapped in the game. However, when he was eventually able to free himself and lead to some looks, he found out that the tech player would turn to the bench in disbelief, throw his hands down and ask, “How?”
The Red Raiders finished seven-thirds from the free throw line (54%). Gators were 25/25 (93%).
“That’s not what beat us,” McCusland said of missing a foul shot. “We pushed the tempo a little later in the game.”
It is the Gators’ first trip since 2014 to return to the promised land of college basketball.
This is one of the most chalky NCAA tournaments in nearly 20 years. The eight teams playing for the Elite Eight on Saturday and Sunday have a total of 13 (at least one) seeds that scored a record in 2007.
Clayton was a star, but he had help. Thomas Howe scored 20 points for Florida, 11 rebounds, and Aliya Martin earned a chip on 10 points and seven boards. Haugh has been named to the West Regional All-Tournament team.
“Several people don’t get enough recognition. Tommy is definitely one of them,” Clayton said. “There’s a lot more to his game, but he’s sacrifice for his team. He does his part and does everything we need him. I appreciate him and I love him.”
Even after Saturday’s hero, Clayton wasn’t ready to admit that he actually rivaled the greatest shooter of all time.
Curry’s resume is clearly more extensive than Clayton’s. But one thing that doesn’t appear on Curry’s long achievement list is the national championship.
Clayton still has shots, at least for now.
(Photo by Walter Clayton Jr.: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
