Duke. Houston.
Purdue. Texas tech.
They feel a certain way that the national master Florida cannot relate to – cannot feel the same emotional anxiety in almost That makes the NCAA tournament a one-of-a-kind tension trip.
Texas Tech led Florida 75–66 late in the West region in San Francisco but missed the free throw and the deadly offensive attack by Walter Clayton Jr. Made street winners in the bay.
Purdue had a “home” audience in Indianapolis ready to explode with euphoria with valuable ticks left in Sweet 16 before Houston’s feeling of incoming games caught Boilermakers from guard and sent cougars to Elite Eight. They got a 19-point victory over No. 2 Frö Tennessee to win the Midwest region.
But Houston also saved some salt for Duke, Champions of the East Region and national title favorites that entered the Final Four. Cougars reached the national title game with a stored comeback for the ages in San Antonio and deleted a two-digit deficit with Lockdown defense that limited Blue Devils to a field goal in the last 10 minutes, 30 seconds on Saturday.
Like Texas Tech – the last team that beat Houston before Monday – had Cougar’s Florida dead to rights. Up two figures Monday night, Houston coughed the lead and tormented a season with a fifth and most painful defeat.
As coach Kelvin Sampson regretted late Monday, Cougars did everything they wanted to do – except the most important part: finishing.
“I told our guys after the game was disappointed that you lost, but were not disappointed with your effort. Defending Florida is difficult,” Sampson said. “We watched them. We held that team to 65 points. Thought that if we held Duke to under 70, we would have a good chance of winning. I felt that if we held Florida for 70 years, we would have a good chance to win.
“Saturday we found a way to win. Tonight maybe not so much.”
A common denominator in painful losses: free throw. The edge was crucial to sinking Texas Tech’s upset bids from Florida. It helped Houston shock Duke and keep off Purdue and Gonzaga.
Just when Clayton seemed to have the body language for a goal scorer ready to play Decoy for the rest of the night, Houston handed him a free (throw) pass on a couple and 1 goal, and he led Florida’s comeback by making freebies. Gators made 15 out of 19 free throw during the second half.
“Probably put him on the line a little too much, and they made their free throw,” Sampson said.
Houston had every chance to write his own championship. Cougars were in the bonus for more than two -thirds of the second half but let the advantage go a draw. Houston missed a third of his 12 free throw in the second half and hit only 6 out of 25 from 3-point interval for the game.
With a chance to set up Houston two with 2:05 left, after Joseph Tugler did the first foul shot, he missed the second. Florida responded with a couple of free throw from Alijah Martin with 46 seconds left, and the other of two from Denzel Aberdeen gave Gators a lead of 65-63. But Houston’s last holding ended as the previous three had – with a turnover that sealed Cougar’s fate.
“They made another game than we did tonight,” Sampson said.
And eight more free throw.
