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Dick Vitale reacts to Florida’s wild Final Four clinching comeback vs. Texas Tech
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Dick Vitale has seen it all during his decades around college basketball and the NCAA Tournament, but the broadcasting icon was still taken aback by Florida’s thrilling 84-79 comeback victory over Texas Tech in the Elite Eight on Saturday night in San Francisco.
All-American Walter Clayton Jr. poured in 30 points, Thomas Haugh had 20 off the bench, and Todd Golden’s Gators erased a 10-point deficit late in the second half to seal the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 2014.
Florida wore the pressure of being the 1-seed in the West Region and had to battle back against the gritty Red Raiders, who were a 3-seed but also the lowest remaining seed left in a top-heavy Elite Eight. Golden had never even won an NCAA Tournament game before this season, but now he’s got 4 NCAA wins and is heading to his first Final Four.
Vitale was mesmerized by the whole thing with his usual emotion-filled reaction to a pulsating win.
“The (Gators) were down by 10 with 7 minutes left and Florida went on (an) 18-4 run and beat Texas Tech,” said Vitale on social media. “The foul line was big as Florida went 25 of 27. (The) Red Raiders were 7 of 13 plus March Madness MR. CLUTCH WALTER CLAYTON was terrific at winning time. Gators punch ticket to FINAL 4!”
Clayton was also clutch in Florida’s second-round thriller against UConn, and Vitale was giving Clayton his kudos for another clutch performance late in Saturday’s win.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
