Florida rallies once again to beat Houston for NCAA title - ESPN

SAN ANTONIO — On Florida's side, the lead-up to Monday's national championship game centered almost entirely around Walter Clayton Jr. The All-American guard was on a run not seen since Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker carried UConn to a pair of titles in the early 2010s.

It was evident immediately that Houston's scouting report did too.

After scoring a combined 64 points in his previous two games, Clayton didn't score his first point until the 14:57 mark of the second half against the Cougars. He didn't make his first field goal until there was 7:54 left in the game. It was the recipe for a comfortable Houston championship win, inevitably continuing the narrative about the Cougars' top-ranked defense.

But Florida's supporting cast kept the Gators in the game just long enough for Clayton to get going in the second half, erasing a 12-point deficit en route to a 65-63 win. Clayton was later named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player after finishing with 11 points and seven assists on Monday night.

Florida has grown comfortable coming from behind in this tournament — this was the third straight game the Gators managed to rally from a big deficit in the second half. They were down nine points against Auburn early in the second half of Saturday's Final Four matchup and were down by as many as 10 points against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight.

With their rally from 12 points down on Monday night, the Gators became the first champion in the last 20 years to overcome at least a nine-point deficit in all three of those rounds, according to ESPN Research.

The national championship was Florida's third since 2006, making 39-year old Todd Golden the youngest head coach to win the title since Jim Valvano in 1983. It was also the