Ear-shattering cheers erupted from the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville Monday night as the University of Florida men’s basketball team clinched its third NCAA national title.
Over 11,000 UF fans decked in orange and blue packed the Exactech Arena to maximum capacity and stormed the court after witnessing the Gators defeat the Houston Cougars 65-63 on a livestream of the game over the jumbotron. So many fans showed up that event staff had to close the doors and turn more away before tip-off.
UF senior Charles Ellis said he’d followed the Gator’s historic season since day one and the championship win was perfect timing before graduation.
“I cannot believe it, we were down the entire game, and it progressively got crazier and crazier,” he said. “I was losing it, I could barely stand at the end, I thought I was going to collapse. It’s my senior year and I’m graduating in like three weeks, so to end like this is just the coolest thing.”
Even though the team had nine turnovers in the first half and a 12-point deficit in the second half, Gator Nation rallied and cheered their team on as if they were courtside with them in San Antonio.
UF’s dance and cheer teams, pep band and Alberta Gator kept the crowd hype and hopeful with commercial break and half-time giveaways and performances, including a basketball shootout game sending the winner home with a basketball signed by UF head coach Todd Golden.
With less than eight minutes left in the game and UF down by one point, the crowd turned on cell phone flashlights and sang along to Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” as the Gators chomped away during the back-and-forth contest.
UF student Torri Hattaway said her front-row seats were worth the hour-long wait for one more time in the basketball stadium this season.
“We wanted to be surrounded by other Gators,” she said.
UF senior Vik Chary, sitting next to Hattaway, said the championship game and getting to show up for it [at Exactech Arena] was the biggest moment of his four years.
“This is my last ride,” he said. “This means everything.”
Fans poured onto the court singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions” after the clock hit zero and the Gators earned their national championship, then ran out into the streets uniting in Gator cheers in front of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and honking car horns as they drove away.
Monday’s performance crowned Florida’s Todd Golden, 39, as the youngest head coach since 1983 to win the national tournament. Fans climbed on each other’s shoulders and cheered as Golden thanked Gator Nation for carrying his team to the win.
“We’ve had to come back quite a bit in this tournament,” Golden said. “Thank you, Gator Nation.”
