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The Florida Gators and Houston Cougars will meet in the 2025 Men’s National Championship Game on Monday night.
The opening spread and total for the game at BetOnline.ag shows the Gators as a small favorite.
2025 National Championship
Houston +1.5
Florida -1.5
Over/Under 142
(ML: Florida -125, Houston +105)
Supporting the notion that these teams are evenly matched, the lookahead lines that were sent Monday (March 31) had the Florida-Houston matchup listed as a pick ‘em.
Walter Clayton scored 34 points with five 3-pointers, giving him the first consecutive 30-point games this deep in the tourney since Larry Bird, and Florida beat Southeastern Conference rival Auburn 79-73 in the Final Four on Saturday night. The Gators are going to the national championship game for the first time since their titles in 2006 and 2007.
“Clayton was the difference. He was just flat out the difference,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We couldn’t contain him down that end.”
No team has against the leading scorer in this NCAA Tournament. He is the first player with 30-point games both the the Elite Eight and semifinals since Bird for Indiana State in 1979, according to ESPN Stats.
“He’s poised, calm and collected, confident in himself. We have that confidence in him,” Gators guard Will Richard said. “We see him practice, see his work ethic. We’re glad everybody else is getting to see him do it in a game.”
The Gators (35-4) got this far only after Clayton rallied them twice in this tournament. He scored 13 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes in a 77-75 win in the second round that ended UConn’s pursuit of a third national title in a row, then had two late 3s last Sunday when they came from nine points down with less than three minutes left to beat Texas Tech.
“I’m just used to seeing him put the ball in the basket, I guess,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “But he’s done what he’s done all year for us. In big moments, stepped up, hit huge shots, settled our team down and made winning plays when we needed it the most.”
Houston's win over Duke offered up perhaps one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.
Houston’s no-room-to-breathe defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes, erased Cooper Flagg and Duke’s title hopes and brought the Cougars within a win of a championship of their own Saturday night with a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils.
Led by Joseph Tugler’s four blocks and an amoeba-like defense that smothers everything, Houston held Duke to a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes. The 67 points were Duke's second-lowest output of its now-ended season.
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