Florida basketball’s run to the national championship trophy this spring culminated in one of the greatest games in the history of the Gators’ hoops program. It was also among the best over the past 25 years, according to The Athletic’s college basketball staff in their recent rankings.
According to the group, the Orange and Blue’s 65-63 comeback victory over the Houston Cougars to seal the university’s third NCAA title is the 18th-best game played since the turn of the millennium.
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“Houston fans are not going to want to relive this. The Cougars led by 12 with just over 16 minutes to play. They had held Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. in check and the Gators were out of sorts offensively,” contributor Lindsay Schnell begins.
“But Florida slowly chipped away and took its first lead of the second half with 46 seconds left. On Houston’s final possession, Clayton made a brilliant defensive play, forcing Houston’s Emanuel Sharp to pause in the middle of his shooting motion. Worried about traveling, Sharp dropped the ball and watched it bounce, and the Gators pounced. Florida captured its first title in 18 years.”
The Gators also got an honorable mention for their 84-83 win over the Wisconsin Badgers on March 24, 2017, in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. Chris Chiozza’s coast-to-coast game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer finished off one of the greatest games in Florida’s hoops lore.
The Athletic’s top 25 best men’s college basketball games of the 2000s
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Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT) – National championship (April 7, 2008)
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Duke 98, Maryland 96 (OT) – Regular season (January 27, 2001)
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Villanova 77, North Carolina 74 – National championship (April 4, 2016)
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Illinois 90, Arizona 89 (OT) – Elite Eight (March 26, 2005)
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North Carolina 81, Duke 77 – Final Four (April 2, 2022)
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George Mason 86, UConn 84 (OT) – Elite Eight (March 26, 2006)
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Syracuse 81, Kansas 78 – National championship (April 7, 2003)
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a. Kentucky 103, North Carolina 100 – Regular season (Dec. 17, 2016)b. North Carolina 75, Kentucky 73 – Elite Eight (March 26, 2017)
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Syracuse 127, UConn 117 (6OT) – Big East tournament (March 12, 2009)
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Indiana 73, Kentucky 72 – Regular season (Dec. 10, 2011)
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Kansas 87, Missouri 86 (OT) – Regular season (Feb. 25, 2012)
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Virginia 80, Purdue 75 – Elite Eight (March 30, 2019)
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Gonzaga 93, UCLA 90 (OT) – Final Four (April 3, 2021)
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Kentucky 78, Wichita State 76 – NCAA Tournament second round (March 23, 2014)
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Davidson 82, Gonzaga 76 – NCAA Tournament first round (March 21, 2008)
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Kansas 109, Oklahoma 106 (3OT) – Regular season (Jan. 4, 2016)
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North Carolina 75, Illinois 70 – National championship (April 4, 2005)
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Florida 65, Houston 63 – National championship (April 7, 2025)
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Duke 61, Butler 59 – National championship (April 5, 2010)
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Kansas 72, North Carolina 69 – National championship (April 4, 2022)
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West Virginia 111, Wake Forest 105 (2OT) – NCAA Tournament second round (March 19, 2005)
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Virginia 85, Texas Tech 77 (OT) – National championship (April 8, 2019)
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San Diego State 72, FAU 71 – Final Four (April 1, 2023)
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Wisconsin 71, Kentucky 64 – Final Four (April 4, 2015)
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Fairleigh Dickinson 63, Purdue 58 – NCAA Tournament first round (March 17, 2023)
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Honorable mention
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Marquette 83, Kentucky 69 (March 29, 2003)
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Gonzaga 105, Michigan State 102 in 3OT (Nov. 22, 2005)
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Texas A&M 92, Northern Iowa 88 (March 20, 2016)
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Florida 84, Wisconsin 83 (March 24, 2017)
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Duke 74, North Carolina 73 (March 15, 2019)
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Virginia 63, Auburn 62 (April 6, 2019)
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North Carolina 93, Baylor 86 in OT (March 19, 2022)
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Houston 70, Duke 67 (April 5, 2025)
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida Basketball: Gators’ 2025 national championship game ranking
