San Francisco-Walter Clayton Jr. Scored a game high 30 points, including 11 points in the final 5:24, as Top-seeded Florida survived a back and forth fight to beat the third seed Texas Tech 84-79 and move on to the last four of the NCAA tournament on Saturday at the Chase Center.
Clayton, who was named the region’s most prominent players, saved his heroes for the route, including hitting three 3 points down the route to help the Gators (34-4) delete a deficit of 75-66 in the last three minutes.
The victory lifted Florida to its first final four since 2014. Gators will play the winner of the South Regional Final between Auburn (31-5), the tournament’s total top seed and the region’s No. 2 seed Michigan State (30-6) in the last four next Saturday in San Antonio.
It also gave head coach Todd Golden his first trip to the last weekend of the season.
Thomas Haugh added 20 points, including two large 3 points during the comeback for the second half. He also contributed 11 returns. The guard Alijah Martin added 10 points and seven boards.
Forward Darrion Williams led the Red Raiders with 23 points, and JT Toppin added 20, including three straight arrangements late in the second half when Texas Tech built its nine-point lead.
The Red Raiders were denied their first trip to Final Four since 2019.
Clayton’s last 3-pointer gave the street’s lead to stay at 78-77 with 59 seconds left. He was surrounded under near the basket, dribbled beyond the bow and dropped the shot.
Treys Clayton did along the route were the only three he did in eight attempts.
Williams then missed a 3-point from the top of the Bågen for Texas Tech, and on Red Raider’s next possession he missed again with 11.5 seconds left. Will Richard’s two free throw it is for the streets.
Haugh started Florida’s comeback with a 3-point from left wing. Haugh went 4 out of 6 from Deep, and Gators Florida was 5 out of 13 on 3-points during the second half.
Texas Tech led by 10 on several occasions during the second half, including on Toppins jumper on a post-up with 6:38 to play. He then met a layout on Red Raider’s next possession to drive the lead back to 10 at 71-61. Florida then got a Trey from Clayton on a ball that delimited more than once from the edge and started a game that ended 23-8 driving.
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