After a season where the best teams dominated at the top of the basketball world, we have a battle between two of those elite teams to crown a national champion. 

For the fourth time in school history, the University of Florida Gators are headed to the national championship game.

Florida knocked off No. 1 overall seed Auburn in Saturday’s Final Four matchup in San Antonio, defeating the Tigers 79-73.

Then, in the later game, the Houston Cougars put up a stunning comeback to upset the Duke Blue Devils 70-67.

Houston trailed by as much as 14 points in the second half before quickly fighting back in the final two minutes to stun Cooper Flagg and his freshmen teammates.

It sets up a winner-takes-all game on Monday night at 8:50pm Eastern Time. 

The Florida Gators are off to the national championship game for the fourth time in history

Walter Clayton Jr. (1) led all scorers with 34 points, four rebounds, and two assists on the night

No. 1 Florida 79, No. 1 Auburn 73 

This is the second time this year these two teams played, with Florida previously beating Auburn 90-81 on the road in the regular season.

The Gators were led by star guard Walter Clayton Jr, who shot 11-for-18 from the field and 5-for-8 from beyond the arc to finish with 32 points, three rebounds, and two assists.

Meanwhile, Auburn star and Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome was held to just 15 points and seven rebounds – with just three of those points coming in the second half.

Florida is back in the title game for the first time since 2007 – when they won their second of back-to-back national championships. 

Auburn, meanwhile, has lost their second Final Four game in as many appearances. They last reached the Final Four in 2019, falling to eventual national champions Virginia.

The Tigers were led by Chad Baker-Mazara – who put up 18 points while shooting 60 percent from the field. Fellow guard Denver Jones also managed 10 points, but shot 3-for-9 from the field.

Freshman Tahaad Pettiford, who has shown brilliance throughout the season and has come up clutch in big moments, wasn’t able to produce that tonight as he shot 1-for-6 from the field and only had seven points.

Auburn’s star forward, Johni Broome, couldn’t perform down the stretch and only got 15 points

Auburn was led in the game in points by guard Chad Baker-Mazara – with 18 on the night

As for Florida, guard Alijah Martin is off to his second Final Four in his career after previously reaching this stage with Florida Atlantic in 2023. He lost on a buzzer beater to San Diego State that year, but this time, his 17 points provided a major boost for the Gators.

Forward Thomas Haugh was the final Gator to hit double-digits as he put up 12 points and seven rebounds.

Gators coach Todd Golden, who had previously been subject to a stalking investigation earlier this year, beat his former boss – Auburn coach Bruce Pearl – to reach his first national title game. 

After going into halftime down 46-38, Florida held Auburn to just 27 second half points. While the Gators shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, the Tigers only managed to hit a third of their shots.

It was in the second half where Clayton found his stride – hitting 6-of-9 shots (including 3-of-4 from deep) to put up 20 points and pull the Gators out of their deficit.

It was in the second half where Clayton found his stride – hitting 6-of-9 shots (including 3-of-4 from deep) to put up 20 points and pull the Gators out of their deficit.

Baker-Mazara led the Tigers in second-half points with 10, but after relinquishing the lead on a Haugh layup to make it 64-63 Florida with 6:31 remaining, Auburn just couldn’t gain the lead back.

Now, Florida is set to play in the title game one more time. In addition to the back-to-back titles, they reached this stage in 2000 – where they fell to the Mateen Cleaves-led Michigan State Spartans.

Florida had double-digit point contributions from Thomas Haugh (L) and Alijah Martin (R)

Clayton came alive in the second half – with 20 points, three rebounds and an assist

No. 1 Houston 70, No. 1 Duke 67

Last week in Newark, after winning the Elite Eight, DailyMail.com asked Duke head coach Jon Scheyer if he had any reservations about his lineup of mostly freshmen going into a more pressure-packed moment than they’ve ever played in before. 

‘I think if you were around them every day, you wouldn’t have doubt yourself,’ the coach said.

Well, the pressure got to the Blue Devils. And in their biggest moment, they collapsed. 

For the first time since the ‘Phi Slamma Jamma’ days with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the Houston Cougars are back in the national title game after pulling off a comeback for the ages.

The Cougars’ 14-point comeback is the third largest in the history of the Final Four – tied with San Diego State’s rebound over Florida Atlantic in 2023 (ironically enough, that game was played in Houston).

Duke was led by their superstar and likely No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg – who put up 27 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

But off an inbound pass down one with 18 seconds to go, in a moment that basketball writers and sports gods practically scripted for him, Flagg’s fadeaway jumper bricked off the front iron and was rebounded by Houston.

A foul from Duke guard Tyrese Proctor sent Houston’s LJ Cryer to the line to ice the game with a pair of free throws – finalizing Cryer’s 26 point, five rebound night.

A last-second heave from Duke to tie the game sailed well high of the basket and stunned the Alamodome.

Houston pulled off one of the largest comebacks in Final Four history to knock off Duke

Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg grabbed 27 points, but missed a crucial late shot to sink Duke

Cryer’s 26 points led the Cougars. Key contributions also came from Emanuel Sharp (16 points, three rebounds) and forward J’wan Roberts (11 points, 12 rebounds).

Meanwhile, Flagg’s 27 led Duke. Freshman teammate Kon Knueppel had 16 points and seven rebounds. 

But the rest of the Blue Devils only combined for 24 points on a shooting line of 8-for-25.

It was truly a tale of two halves. Duke went into the interval up 34-28 and shooting just over 41 percent from the field against Houston’s No. 1 ranked defense.

But Houston kept running into trouble. Cryer was leading the team by a wide margin as his supporting cast failed to hit shots. Houston was shooting a poor 31 percent in the first half.

Down the stretch, it appeared Duke had this game in the bag. Proctor laced a free throw with 8:17 to go to put the Blue Devils up 59-45 and giving them their largest lead of the game. 

With 3:03 left, Flagg hit a 3-pointer to go up 64-55. It would be the final shot the Blue Devils hit in the game. 

After that basket, Houston went on a 15-3 run down the stretch – including a 9-0 run in the final 30 seconds of the game. 

LJ Cryer (4) led the Cougars on their comeback with 26 points and five rebounds on the night

J’wan Roberts’ double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds were critical to Houston’s victory

Even late in the game, a careless mistake on a Duke inbound seemed to sink Houston as Duke’s Kon Knueppel sank a free throw to go up six points with 1:14 remaining.

A triple from Houston’s Emanuel Sharp made it a three-point game. A steal from Mylik Wilson gave him the confidence to try a triple – which he missed, but a tip-in from teammate Joseph Tugler made it a one point game with 25 seconds to go.

With Duke in the bonus, Houston fouled Proctor to send him to the line for a one-and-one. Proctor missed and J’wan Roberts was sent to the line to do the same.

Roberts sank both his shots to give the Cougars their first lead since the 15:27 mark of the first half.

That led to the drawn up play for Flagg. The Maine native took the inbound and was closely guarded, leading to a contested jumper that he missed.

Cryer sank his free throws and Houston completed their comeback – setting up a title game against Florida in their home state.