If you are a Florida Gators fan, you are either waking up smiling or finally going to sleep happy after a night of celebrating Florida's first basketball National Championship since 2007. After a magical season behind head coach Todd Golden, the Gators are back on the mountaintop yet again alone this season, and they get to celebrate that for months to come until another season inevitably starts.
Until then, Gator fans are going to enjoy this moment and every moment after that until the celebration officially comes to an end. There are a lot of things that Gator fans can hold onto in order to continue celebrating, and one of those is the radio call from Westwood One Sports last night in the final clinching second of the Gators' big win, a call that Florida fans will have playing on repeat in their house all day.
"𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗪𝗮𝘆!" 🟠🐊🔵
— Westwood One Sports (@westwood1sports) April 8, 2025
Hear the final seconds as @GatorsMBK held defensively and claimed their third Men's Basketball #NationalChampionship with a 65-63 win over Houston.
🗣️: @kevinkugler #GoGators | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/DQMqqoskRn
Westwood One Sports' call of the final seconds of the Gators' championship win will send chills down the spine of every Florida fan
It would come as no surprise to anyone if every Florida fan was watching highlights of last night's game over and over again today, including Walter Clayton Jr.'s amazing closeout to force Houston not to even get a shot off at the end of the game.
The call at the end of the game by Kevin Kugler though is one that can fire up any Florida fan in a matter of seconds.
"Six seconds to go, five seconds to Sharp, top of the key, lost the dribble he's gotta pick it up , it's scooped up by Condon, Condon secures it," Kugler said. "Florida found a way! From 12 down to the school's third national championship in men's basketball."
Florida truly chose to make the game interesting. From being down 12 points to coming back and holding Houston to no field goals in the last 1:30 seconds left in the game, it is something that will go down in Florida basketball history.
While the offense did what it needed to in order to give the Gators the lead late when it mattered most, it was the defense that completely secured the win. Not even allowing Houston to get a shot off is something not a lot of teams can say they do when trying to win games in the final seconds. Florida didn't even leave it up to the chance of Houston making a great shot. Instead, they played solid defense and went home without the stress of seeing the ball in the air going toward the basket.