Walter Clayton Jr. ‘bet on himself’ before the Final Four Most Outstanding Player leads Florida to NCAA title

SAN ANTONIO — There were two Walter Claytons on a confetti-filled court inside the Alamodome on Monday. One of them wore a basketball net like a necklace and a backward “national champions” hat.

That was Walter Clayton Jr. The other one wore a No. 1 Clayton jersey and the proud look of a parent who had just watched their namesake reach heights that most can only ever dream of. That was Walter Clayton Sr.

“The best kid in the world,” Clayton Sr. told CBS Sports. “Never got in trouble. Couple of calls from the principal, but that was about it. Once he got into high school, he was a great kid.”

Once Clayton got into high school, he also faced a big decision. He was coveted as a football prospect at Bartow (Florida) High School who instead chose basketball. As if it wasn’t already clear, that was the right decision.

Clayton Jr. was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player after helping lead Florida to a 65-63 win over Houston in the national title game.

His 11 points and one made 3-pointer were each postseason lows, but his seven assists marked a postseason high, and Clayton’s championship-clinching moment is not noted in the box score at all.

With Houston trailing by two on its final possession, Clayton drew the assignment of guarding sharpshooter Emanuel Sharp, who initially was isolated on the baseline far away from the action unfolding at the top of the key.

Inside the ‘incomprehensible’ final moments that led to Houston’s anguish and Florida’s NCAA championship

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Then, suddenly, Sharp shot through the lane, got a pick from J’Wan Roberts and popped – seemingly wide open – for a deep 3-point attempt that could have lifted Houston to victory.

Clayton was yelling “back screen” at teammate Alex Condon, but Condon got held up by Roberts and had no chance of contesting the shot. That left Clayton with about 15 feet of ground to make up in the blink of an eye. 

“At that point, time was moving so slow,” Florida associate coach Carlin Hartman recalled of the game-deciding sequence.

Houston guard L.J. Cryer hit Sharp in stride, and Sharp got his feet set for a shot at immortality.

But Clayton read the play just quickly enough, racing toward Sharp before a second screener could get there to impede Clayton’s frantic close-out.

As Sharp began his jump, Clayton jumped with him, leaving him with no choice but to abandon the shot attempt in midair and put the ball on the ground. As the final seconds ticked away, Condon fell on the basketball and passed it to Clayton just as the buzzer sounded.

It was only fitting that the ball be in Clayton’s hands as the celebration began. 

The senior star averaged 21.8 points during Florida’s nine-game tear through the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. And even when Houston’s relentless defense put the bulk of its attention onto slowing Clayton down, he still found a way to get it done for the Gators.

“Maturity,” Hartman told CBS Sports. “We all know he is a generational type of a player. He could have gone into a shell. He could have kept on trying to chuck up bad shots. It says a lot that, what did he have? Seven assists? He was handling all that pressure, he was getting double-teamed every time. He just did a great job of not pressing.”

Life would have been miserable for some under the circumstances Clayton faced for the first 32 minutes of the game. The star of the 2025 NCAA Tournament missed his first six shots, and some of them weren’t particularly close.

“They had a great defensive game plan,” Florida assistant Kevin Hovde told CBS Sports. “They were doubling him, trapping him, putting two on the ball every time. We were trying to do some things to free him up. But they were so tough and physical with him.”

Then, with just under eight minutes remaining, Clayton broke free for a 3-point play. The made shot was just a layup, but it was a foreshadow of what was to come.

“Walt saw the ball go through the net with some free throws and the and-one layup,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “I thought that loosened him up a little bit. After that, we were starting to get some good stuff, hit some shots, get downhill and get to the foul line. We were able to flip the game and the momentum a little bit.”

Coming out of the final media timeout with 3:24 remaining and Florida trailing 60-57, Clayton was 0 for 5 from 3-point range and on the verge of finishing without a made 3-pointer for the first time since Dec. 30, 2023.

The Florida staff didn’t care, and neither did Clayton.

“He has undying confidence,” Hovde said. “There was no doubt he was going to shoot the ball down the stretch. He has a very short memory. He wasn’t worried about what was happening previously in the game. He was shooting those shots.”

Clayton scored nine points over the final eight minutes, including a dart of a 3-pointer out of that timeout off a play that Hovde drew up. If it was the last thing Hovde did before departing to become the coach at Columbia, it will go down as a stroke of coaching genius that helped the Gators claim their first title since 2017.

Out of a “horns” set, Florida perfectly executed a series of screens so intricate and detailed that even the vaunted Houston defense couldn’t keep up.

“Gave him just enough space to be able to get a clean look, and then he knocked it down,” Hartman said.

They were the last three points of Clayton’s college career, and they capped what was a tough shooting night by his lofty standards. But Clayton seemed to appreciate that Monday night’s victory wasn’t just about him.

“The way we won tonight, it’s just an exclamation mark on the year,” he said. “It’s great to win like that, knowing the fact that we’re a brotherhood together, and we’ve been picking each other up all year.”

The other Walter Clayton felt similarly.

“He’s got special teammates on this team,” Clayton Sr. said. “That’s how they were able to get it done. I’m just proud of the whole team.”

Florida couldn’t have won Monday night without 18 points from Will Richard, gritty plays from Condon or a game-changing sequence from Thomas Haugh that helped the Gators erase a 12-point deficit.

But it would have never made it to Monday without Clayton Jr., who once abandoned a promising football career because he believed in himself as an unheralded basketball prospect.

As Clayton Sr. said, his son was a “COVID baby” in basketball, unable to get the exposure he needed late in his high school career amid the throes of a pandemic. Subsequently, he ended up at Iona for his first two seasons.

“He had to go the long route,” Clayton Sr. said. “He had to prove himself.”

When Rick Pitino left Iona for the St. John’s job after the 2022-23 season, Clayton Jr. opted to transfer to his home-state school of Florida instead of following his coach, partly so he could be close to his family.

On Monday night, it all came full circle as father and son celebrated together with throngs of Florida fans on both sides of the stands chanting “Walter Clayton.”

There were two taking pride in the chant.

“Well worth it,” Clayton Sr. said. “He bet on himself, and look where we’re at.”