San Antonio – In the last four, crowds are often filled with college basketball dignitaries.
On Saturday, Jim Bohem, Mark Fu, Scott Drew, Nat Oats and Tuby Smith were seated in the front row of Almodome. Mike Crazyeski, Hakim Olajuvon, Dwight Howard and Carmello Anthony were also in the building.
But when Florida’s star Walter Clayton Junior burnt Almodome with 34 points in his team’s 79-73 win over Obern, a single group of basketball veterans saw all that it was all before reacting as if he was probably not.
“Walter Clayton Junior is a real deal,” Roy Williams said, who coached Michael Jordan as an assistant at North Carolina under Dean Smith from his seat near Midcourt. “That is the real deal.”
In an attempt back from his latest extraordinary, coming from coming, Clayton matched history. Prior to Saturday, only Larry Bird scored 30 points or more in back-to-back elite and the last four matches. Clayton’s effort contributed 30 points to a win over Texas Tech on Saturday, with a nine points with 3:14 to play.
This is why Clayton’s companions were not surprised.
“I think everyone sees it,” Florida Guard Will Richard said after Saturday’s game. “He is self -confident, calm and gathered with confidence in himself. We have confidence. We see him practice. We see his work. We are happy that everyone else is watching him doing it in a game.”
“He is incredible,” Thomas Hug said, which was one of the three gates in dual figures, with Alija Martin (17 points) and Clayton. “In court and outside, he is a great friend. We rely on him in those situations. He hits a big shot day by day.”
From the beginning of Saturday’s matchup, Obern coach Bruce Pearl was afraid of his team’s second meeting with Florida.
Clayton, who scored 19 points in the 90-81 victory in Obern on 8 February, hit 3-pointers from many places. He scored in traffic. He trimmed one with an impossible angle after the haptytime. He also hit a 3-pointer to cut the objective lead in the second half. And when he finished the three-digit game after a dishonesty in the last minutes, Obit almost ended at the 2024–25 season of Obern.
Pearl said on Friday, “Clayton has been the best guard on the floor every night.” “Clayton may not be the best guard on the floor tomorrow.”
But that was, only two months later he was the best guard on the floor in win over Obern at SEC Play in Florida.
Gaters will play the national title for the first time since 2007, when they won their second national title continuously.
On Saturday, Florida’s Postgame Locker Room was not only a celebration scene, but also for Clayton’s biggest fans to tell that when the team was below nine points, why were they not afraid – the same margin wiped out late against Texas Tech – at the beginning of the second half.
Gaters Center Micah Handlogtain and his comrades predicted the result in Haftime. With 20 minutes left, they told each other, Obern had left a lot of time on the clock for Clayton.
“The fact is that he can go out of there tonight and score 34 points and take us to a national championship,” Handlagtain said. “I can’t really explain it. He never shows a lot of emotion. He is always on this little mug and he is just hops.”
Those who play with Clayton, they said that they become fans even when AP enters the first-team all-American, in which many teammates said “zone” that they could feel that they can feel hot. Shots that should not fall seem always appear during those parts. And when they do, gaters know that they can control the game.
“I think he is in the zone every time he touches the rock,” Sam Alexis said about his team’s confidence amidst adversity with Clayton on the roster. “We have got the vault. He is going to fly it.”
Danzel Aberdeen was added, played with Clayton because they were in the same AAU team at the middle school: “You always see in the sky and go through the net and you like, ‘Oh my goodness, she is like this.”
Obern’s game plan against Clayton was an hour -off of the film. In some ways, it worked. Clayton did not get a crowd of open looks. But even when his shots were challenged, he went inside.
“We will go back and watch the film and you are going to see three or four, just highly contestants, high-digry-to-deficit shots, but that’s why he is one of the best players in college basketball as he is capable of doing those things,” Steven Pearl, Associate Head Coach said. “So hate him. Obviously, he did an incredible job of preparing them for the national championship game.”
But Clayton wants more.
On Monday night, they will get their team a chance to lead their third national title and the first championship in about two decades when it moves forward. 70-67 winners on Houston, Duke Late in the semi -finals of Saturday.
In addition, in the last two matches, with another attempt, they will have a chance to join the lineage of the last four stars who are known by a name. Lonner. Mateen. Carmello. Camba. Advertisement. Shabaz. Tais. Divincenzo. Triston.
Clayton?
If, after Saturday’s victory, Clayton felt the weight of that possibility, he never showed it. During Saturday’s game, his colleagues noted his quiet performance.
Not after knowing Clayton, NCAA has become a problem in the tournament – for everyone else.
“It’s just me, I think,” Clayton said. “Don’t be too much, don’t be too low.”
