Nigeria’s Reuben Chinyelu won the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Monday night when the Florida Gators rallied to a 65-63 win over the Houston Cougars in the championship game.
Chinyelu played mainly at the NIS Court in the National Stadium in Lagos before attending the NBA Academy in Dakar, Senegal. He also competed in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) twice—with the Ferroviario da Beira in 2022 and Stade Malien in 2023.
The 21-year-old, who was born in Anambra State and is being mentored by former Nigeria international Olumide Oyedeji, finished the game with three points and five rebounds in 19 minutes.
Chinyelu, who is studying to become a dentist, became the third Nigerian to win an NCAA men’s national title, joining Charles Okwandu with the University of Connecticut (UCONN) in 2011 and Daniel Ochefu with Villanova in 2016.
Houston was the much better side for a large part of the game at the Alamodome in San Antonio and the Cougars defence stifled Florida’s offence, with the Gators only taking the lead in the final minute of the game.
The Cougars took a 31-28 lead into the halftime break, having held Florida’s star guard Walter Clayton Jr. scoreless in the opening period. They, however, extended the lead to 12 points in the second half, with the scores at 42-30.
The Gators did not take the lead until two made free throws from Alijah Martin with less than a minute to play put them at 64-63. Emanuel Sharp then turned the ball over for Houston on a drive to the basket, giving Denzel Aberdeen the chance to extend Florida’s lead, with the guard hitting one of two free throws to set the score at 65-63.
Ironically, Florida won the game on defence as a timed closeout by Clayton forced Sharp to turn the ball over on his 3-point attempt, before Alex Condon retrieved it for the Gators, who won their third NCAA title and first since the back-to-back championships of 2006 and 2007.
Clayton, who did not score until 14:57 remaining in the game, finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and a game-high seven assists, clinching the Most Outstanding Player award. Will Richard, who kept Florida in the game with big-time plays, had a team-high 18 points and tied a game-high eight rebounds, and Condon finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Gators’ head coach Todd Golden, 39, made history by becoming the youngest coach to win an NCAA title since N.C. State’s Jim Valvano in 1983.
For Houston, they missed the opportunity to win the program’s first title, with L.J. Cryer finishing with a game-high 19 points, while no other member of the team scored double figures as Mylik Wilson had nine points, while the trio of Sharp, J’wan Roberts and Ja’Vier Francis ended with eight each.
