SAN FRANCISCO -- With Florida on the brink of elimination from the NCAA men's basketball tournament, All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. answered with one of the great clutch performances in school history Saturday to guide the Gators to the Final Four with an 84-79 win against third-seeded Texas Tech.
Clayton scored 13 of his game-high 30 points over the game's final 5:24, helping the top-seeded Gators erase a 10-point deficit at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors. He was later named the West Region's Most Outstanding Player.
Clayton's style of play has drawn comparisons to Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the past, and while neither he, nor Florida coach Todd Golden, wanted to add to that conversation, that Clayton's heroics occurred in San Francisco made them tough to ignore.