The Two Numbers That Determined the College Basketball National Champions
- Brennan Valladares
- Apr 8, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 29, 2025
High-level basketball can rarely, if ever, be reduced to a number or two when deducing why a particular team won. However, numbers can help explain greater happenings on the court, and in the case of the 2025 NCAA championships, two key statistics give us an understanding of why the Connecticut Huskies and Florida Gators are standing alone at season's end.
UCONN – 37.7
The adage “defense wins championships” feels like an echo of a bygone era of basketball. While that might be true at the professional level, college basketball champions are built around elite-level defenses.
Since 2003, 17 of the 22 women's national champions have either been in the top 10 for defensive rating or opponent effective field goal percentage, or both. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that the team that has now won nine of those 22 titles – the Connecticut Huskies – finished the 2024-25 season top 10 in both categories. And against the sixth-best offense in the country, Geno Auriemma’s team held South Carolina to a 37.7 effective field goal rate – the second-worst shooting performance of the season for the Gamecocks. (That number was buoyed by a second-half effort by South Carolina that saw it go 11-for-29 – outdoing its 10-for-33 mark in the first 20 minutes.)
It didn’t matter if it was a two (37.8%), a 3 (23.5%) or free throws (72.2%), South Carolina shot worse than its season average on all fronts. Thanks to active perimeter defenders and All-American Sarah Strong (three blocks and two steals), UConn hoisted its 12th title. Maybe defense still can win championships at all levels, hm.
FLORIDA – 11
After dropping 30 points against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and 34 against No. 1 overall seed Auburn in the Final Four, Walter Clayton Jr. joined Larry Bird as the only players to have consecutive 30-point outings in the Elite Eight and after in NCAA Tournament history.
Through 25 minutes of gametime Monday night, though, there was a zero next to Clayton Jr.’s name in the box score.
Houston’s hyper-aggressive defense followed Clayton Jr. around like his own shadow, forcing the All-American guard to be a facilitator. While he racked up seven assists, Florida faced a 12-point deficit with 16:24 left. 90 seconds later, Clayton Jr. found himself at the free-throw line with a chance to end his dry spell.
A collective sigh of relief had to wash over Florida fans after the two subsequent makes, as the lid had officially been taken off the rim for their superstar. The senior’s next six points encapsulated his play throughout the tournament, as he made two clutch and-ones to keep Florida attached down the stretch.
Clayton Jr. followed those makes up with a timely 3-pointer to tie it at 60, giving him 11 points in the final 14:57 to fuel the Gators' closing 31-21 run. While it wasn’t Bird’s 19-point, 13-rebound double-double in the 1979 national championship, Walter Clayton Jr.’s 11 points and seven assists earned him the title and the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
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