Heartbreak in San Antonio: Houston’s Crushing Loss to Florida
SAN ANTONIO — The Alamodome was a sea of emotions on Monday night, as Houston coach Kelvin Sampson faced the media after a gut-wrenching loss to Florida. Nearly an hour had passed since Sampson walked off the court, surrounded by the celebratory orange and blue confetti of the Gators. The 69-year-old coach stood in front of a black curtain, illuminated by television lights that highlighted the salt in his close-cropped hair, as he reflected on what was arguably the most crushing professional low of his career.
With his arms folded and an NCAA National Final pin on his gray polo, Sampson distilled the disappointment of Houston’s 65-63 loss. The Cougars had squandered a 12-point lead in the second half, ending the national title game with four consecutive turnovers. “There’s a lot of teams that are not built for six straight wins,” Sampson said, referring to the number needed to win the NCAA tournament. “This team was, this team was built, this team had the character and the toughness and the leadership. This team was built to win this tournament, and that’s why it’s so disappointing. We got here and had a chance and just didn’t get it done.”
The scene was a stark contrast to Houston’s stunning comeback win over Duke in the national semifinal. On Monday, the Cougars faltered in the final minute, failing to even get a shot off on their last three possessions. Just 48 hours after scoring the game’s last nine points in 33 seconds to stun the Blue Devils, Houston lost a game it controlled throughout, trailing for only 63 seconds.
Florida’s first lead in the second half came with just 46 seconds remaining. Sampson called it “incomprehensible” that the Cougars couldn’t get a shot off on the final two possessions, as Houston closed the game with back-to-back turnovers by star guard Emanuel Sharp.
Florida’s comeback was the third-biggest in NCAA title game history, leaving the Houston locker room a mirror image of the devastation it had caused two nights earlier. As reporters entered the locker room, Cougars guard Milos Uzan escorted Sharp away from the media. Sharp, with a towel over his head, could be heard wailing as Uzan tried to console him. “That’s me, bro,” Sharp was overheard saying, followed by a scream of frustration.
In the quiet locker room, punctuated by the occasional flush of a toilet, Houston’s Joseph Tugler summed up the devastation simply: “That broke everybody’s heart.”
Sharp’s pain was palpable, stemming from the back-to-back possessions that ended the game, his only two turnovers. Sampson described them as “a couple tough possessions decisionwise.” With Houston facing its first deficit of the half in the final minute, Sharp drove to the basket with nearly 30 seconds remaining and was stripped by Florida’s Will Richard, forcing Sharp to kick the ball out of bounds with 26 seconds left.
After Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen made one of two free throws, Houston had the ball down two with 19 seconds left. Florida’s defense stymied Houston’s early offensive action, and Sharp caught the ball nearly 6 feet behind the 3-point line with five seconds remaining. Sharp attempted a long 3-pointer, but Walter Clayton Jr. lunged at him midair, forcing Sharp into an unenviable position. The ball hit the floor, and Florida’s Alex Condon made the hustle play to seal the game by snagging his fourth steal of the night.
Sharp slumped down a few feet from his final turnover, his elbows on his knees and fists covering his face. “I told him I loved him,” Sampson said when asked what he told Sharp. “I told him I loved him, and I really focused on the job he did on Clayton. He did an awesome job on him. He made a couple reads that I’m sure he wish he’d had over, but we don’t get there without that kid.”
Sharp played gritty defense on Clayton, who finished with 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting, taking more than 32 minutes to score a field goal. Sampson hoped Sharp would have shot-faked and gotten into the paint, but Clayton’s lunge froze him, creating an unusual key play to win the game. More than 20 years after Syracuse‘s Hakim Warrick delivered the biggest blocked shot in NCAA tournament history to beat Kansas, Clayton will have the most replayed contest.
- The other two Houston miscues to close the game included:
- One turnover off an offensive rebound by Tugler.
- Another on a baseline drive to nowhere by L.J. Cryer that culminated when Cryer flipped the ball into Condon’s chest in the paint.
Cryer summed up the overall tenor of missed opportunity: “It was definitely there for the taking.”
A win would have marked Sampson’s 800th career victory and his first national title, likely pushing him to the Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Instead, he left the court in disbelief after the handshake line. Sampson’s daughter, Lauren, ran to him in the tunnel and hugged him. “I’m OK,” he told her.
As Houston’s assistant coaches sat in their locker room, staring into space, assistant Kellen Sampson, the coach’s son, summed up the fickle bounces of the tournament’s fate: “It’s a brutal, cruel guillotine,” he said. “When you get here, every team is so good and you don’t get here without a team that’s connected, resilient, tough. The margins are so razor-thin. We certainly did enough tonight to win. Florida did, as well, and they won.”
Originally Written by: Pete Thamel
