Florida’s locker room in Raleigh, North Carolina, was anything but peaceful throughout the weekend. Buried underneath the Lenovo Center, the Gators sat in silence. They hadn’t faced anything quite like UConn, and it was becoming noticeable.
Only two days earlier, UF head coach Todd Golden entered the locker room similarly frustrated, punching a hole in an NC State-supplied whiteboard after his team had just given up an 11-0 run to No. 16-seed Norfolk State. The Gators were going to win, but he knew the level of effort wasn’t on par to an NCAA Tournament run.
“Regardless of the final score, we just weren't as sharp as we expect to be and what we feel like we need to be if we want to make a run in this tournament,” Golden said on Friday.
Entering halftime tied 31-31, the adjustments he spoke of hadn’t come to fruition against No. 8 seed UConn on Sunday. Florida was shooting 36% from three, while also struggling to hold onto the ball, turning it over nine times.
As the halftime buzzer sounded, Golden’s group walked solemnly off the court and into the tunnel, grunting in frustration. UF had 15 minutes to come up with adjustments and 20 to implement those changes.
For the vast majority of the second half, it didn’t look like the Gators had anything new to offer. Nearly five months of play, eight months of practice and years of recruiting had come to a head. That was until senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. took the ball up the court with less than three minutes in the contest, trailing for the entirety of the second half and currently down 61-59.
After handing the ball off in a pick-and-roll with sophomore forward Alex Condon, the AP first-team All-American guard wrapped around to the right wing. In a swift motion, he gathered a handoff from the sophomore and launched. The ball rotated in the air for seven-tenths of a second. It was in that moment when Florida’s resiliency showed itself.
“After about 34 minutes of it not looking like it was going to go our way… We made winning play after winning play down the stretch in the last six,” Golden said.
When Golden arrived in Gainesville, he emphasized the need for a culture change. It had been five years since UF’s last Sweet Sixteen appearance, and the Gators hadn’t graced the SEC Championship since 2014. There was a sense of complacency he needed to wring out, and he did that rapidly.
Over the last month, the Gators have established themselves as one of the most adaptable teams in the nation, presenting the adjustment Golden worked expeditiously at making. They toppled No. 1 Auburn 90-81 in a high-scoring affair behind their nation-leading offense. Weeks later, they elbowed out No. 8 Tennessee in the SEC Championship 86-77, holding the Vols off with their top-10 defense, per Kenpom. That versatility, tied with winning 12 of its last 13 games, made Florida a trendy national championship selection entering the tournament.
Golden’s team has been anything but set in its ways, thus sponsoring his anger through UF’s first 75 minutes of sluggish NCAA Tournament play. But in the final moments on Sunday, Florida evolved back into the team that didn’t blink in its five ranked contests of the final 16 days of the season.
“This is why everybody came here,” Richard said of UF’s toughness down the stretch of its recent games. “We wanted to bring Florida back to that national stage and that relevance.”
He, along with Clayton Jr. and senior guard Alijah Martin, have done just that, and outlasting the Huskies represented the next step along their journey.
When Golden arrived at Florida, his inaugural rattling loss came at home in December 2022. His opponent? The UConn Huskies. During what was ultimately the first of its consecutive championship campaigns, UConn traveled to Gainesville and leveled Florida 75-54, never taking its foot off the gas as the Gators winced.
“We knew this game wasn't going to be easy. They've got a championship pedigree, back-to-back champions,” Clayton Jr. said. “That's a great team. They had that experience. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We kept our composure. This guy [Golden] especially, he kept us together through the adversity.”
Richard, Martin and Clayton Jr. combined for 56 points in Florida’s 77-75 win against UConn, as the latter led the way with 23. While no member of the trio is much of a high-level NBA prospect, they’ve thrived in Golden’s system, leading the culture switch he emphasized upon his arrival three years ago.
“We have trust in each other, the three senior guards,” Richard said. “We have a lot of experience, and we did a great job trying to keep everybody calm throughout those moments.”
After Sunday’s win, Golden walked into his press conference confident. It had been a long five days in Raleigh. When he sat down at his labeled seat with a microphone blocking his worn face, he didn’t mince thoughts.
“The time was now for us to take that next step,” Golden said. “Florida basketball [is] back where it belongs.”
Contact Noah White at nwhite@alligator.org. Follow him on X @noahwhite1782.
Noah is a Spring 2025 Assistant Sports Editor and Copy Desk Chief. He's a second-year journalism major who enjoys reading and shamefully rooting for Tennessee sports teams. He is also a Liberty League Women's Soccer expert.
