The college basketball national championship game is set as the Houston Cougars will go up against the Florida Gators Monday night for all the marbles. These two teams have not lost in a combined 106 days and both have refused to die in this tournament, but something's got to give.
Houston will need to take the momentum from their thrilling comeback win against Duke into this one if they want to take down the Gators. Florida has looked defeated multiple times in this tournament, but no one has been able to close them out. In order to win Houston will need to play 40 minutes of disciplined and high level basketball.
Here are three keys for Houston to do just that and defeat Florida to win their, and Kelvin Sampson’s, first ever college basketball national championship.
1. Make the game their style
This game features two very different styles of play. Houston leans on their aggressive defense to shut you down and make the game as slow and ugly as possible. Playing the game at this pace and style will be key if they want to win. Kelvin Sampson said after the Duke game that he knew they had no chance of winning if the score got to the 80s, and I believe the same applies here. This slow-tempo style is something that Florida is not used to as they often force opponents to play their way. Tennessee is a good comparison who Florida went 2-1 against this year, but that one loss was by far the worst the Gators have looked all season. They lost that one by 20, only scored 44 points, and had their lowest shot attempts total all year with 53. If the Cougars can muck this one up and make it ugly as they like to do, then they will have a good shot at winning.
2. Contain Clayton
At this point I believe there is no way to stop Walter Clayton Jr., you can only hope to contain him. Every time Florida has been in a bad spot this tournament, Clayton has been the guy to step up and save them with his scoring abilities. Houston will need to apply pressure on him for the entire game in hopes of tiring him out and not allow him to take any easy shots. I believe J’Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler match up well against the Florida bigs and this game will be decided in the backcourt. The Cougars shut down Duke’s guards in the Final Four matchup and they will need a similar performance in this one. If Clayton is held to under 20 points I like Houston’s chances.
3. Discipline down the stretch
As I have said, Florida has just not gone away at the end of games, which is why they are here. Houston is not too bad either in late game scenarios with arguably the two best comebacks this season against Duke and Kansas. I fully expect this one to be close down the stretch, come down to the final minutes, and be won by the more disciplined team that makes more winning plays. Some points of emphasis late in the game that can lead to this include making free throws, boxing out (especially on free throws), taking care of the basketball, securing loose balls, and making no stupid mistakes that could put you on the wrong side of March Madness history.