SAN ANTONIO ― Florida basketball has grown comfortable coming from behind throughout the NCAA Tournament.
The Florida Gators rallied from down six points in the second half to beat UConn in the Round of 32, down nine points in the final four minutes to beat Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and down eight points at halftime to beat Auburn in the Final Four.
But Florida (35-4) will meet a team just as resilient when it faces Houston (35-4) in the NCAA Tournament national title game on Monday night (8:50 p.m., CBS). The Cougars pulled off a stunning comeback in the Final Four, coming back from down nine points in the final 3:03 to beat Duke 70-67 on Saturday night.
"As long as there's time on the clock, we're going out there and give it our all," Houston guard L.J. Cryer said. "We've been in positions like that before at Kansas, I don't remember how much we was down, but it was late in the game, that game looked like it was pretty much over, too. Somehow, we ended up winning it, so...
"We just had to keep that belief and keep faith. We got it done."
Here are storylines to watch in UF's matchup with the Cougars:
Which guard will have the bigger game: Florida basketball's Walter Clayton Jr. or Houston's L.J. Cryer?
Florida basketball coach Todd Golden declared the 6-foot-3 Clayton as "the best guard in the country." Clayton is averaging 32.0 points over his last two games and became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to post back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and national semifinals.
The 6-foot-1 Cryer is Houston's top offensive threat and is coming off a 26-point game against Duke, going 8 of 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from 3-point range. He's averaging 15.6 points on the season while shooting 42.7% from 3-point range, with 119 treys on the season.
Florida guard Alijah Martin will likely take on the defensive assignment on Cryer but expect others to contribute as well to try to wear out Houston's top scorer.
Can Florida basketball match Houston's physicality?
Houston projects similar to Tennessee on how hard it guards from one end of the floor to the other. The stingy Cougars lead the nation in scoring defense, giving up just 58.3 points per game.
In its upset win over Duke, Houston outrebounded the Blue Devils 42-31 and outscored Duke 19-12 in second-chance points. Houston isn't big across the frontline, but thick, as 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward Joseph Tugler and 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward J'Wan Roberts are wide-shouldered frontline players.
Florida is going to need its four-post rotation to continue to step up. UF sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu (five points, nine rebounds) did a strong job guarding Auburn center Johni Broome in the second half of Saturday’s semifinal. Sophomore forward Alex Condon struggled early but came up with some big plays late against Auburn, including drawing a charge against Broome and grabbing a rebound.
"They controlled the game in the first half," Golden said. "We stuck around, and we were hanging in, but we kind of felt like we were getting knocked around a little bit. We controlled ...
