SAN ANTONIO — Houston ran with him step for step, chasing him around the perimeter, dogging him down the baseline and making every offensive possession an exercise in futility for Walter Clayton Jr., Florida’s leading scorer and the driving force behind the Gators playing in Monday night’s national championship game.
After entering NCAA Tournament history as the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to score at least 30 points in the Elite Eight and national semifinals, the senior guard went into halftime against the Cougars with a goose egg: zero points on zero makes in four tries from 3-point range, along with two turnovers.