LeBron James’ friend gives scathing indictment on Walter Clayton Jr. after 0-pt half in NCAA final - “Great value Steph Curry”

LA Lakers superstar LeBron James' friend, Sean Singletary, was on the case of Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. after he went scoreless in the opening half of their national championship game against the Houston Cougars on Monday in San Antonio, Texas.

Singletary, a former NBA player and now a podcaster known as 'Cuffs The Legend,' shared his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) on the performance of Clayton in the first half against Houston and was unimpressed.

He wrote:

"Walter Clayton Jr. has been looking like Great Value Steph Curry this whole entire NCAA Tournament and he gets all the way to the championship game and now the Houston Cougars defense got him looking like Julian Newman tonight #MovingThePuppies."

Walter Clayton Jr. entered the championship game waxing hot, averaging 24.6 points on 50% shooting from the field and 48.7% from 3-point country. He topped 30 points twice in the tournament, including his 34-point output in their 79-74 Final Four victory over the Auburn Tigers.

In the first 20 minutes of the championship game, Walter Clayton Jr. had it rough, going 0-of-4 from the field, with all of his attempts coming from beyond the arc as they trailed the Cougars 31-28 at the break.

Walter Clayton Jr. and the Florida Gators are 2025 NCAA champions

While Walter Clayton Jr. had a rough start to the national championship game, he and the Florida Gators had the last laugh as they rallied back to beat the Houston Cougars 65-63 to become the 2025 champions.

Clayton wound up with 11 points, after going scoreless in the opening half, to go along with 7 assists, 5 rebounds, a steal, and a block to help Florida win their third national title, and first since 2007.

Senior guard Will Richard led the way for the Gators in the championship-clinching victory, finishing with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Sophomore forward Alex Condon was the other Florida player who scored in double digits with 12 points while adding 7 rebounds and 4 steals.

For the Cougars, it was senior guard L.J. Cryer who was the lone player to score in double digits with 19 points.

The Gators looked doomed after going down by 12 points, 42-30, in the second half. But they charged back to tie the game at 51-all as the game hit the closing minutes. The teams went back and forth after, with Florida taking the lead 64-63 with 46.5 seconds remaining following two free throws made by Alijah Martin.

Houston turned the ball in the ensuing play, then saw the Gators extend their lead to two points, 65-63, with a made free throw by Denzel Aberdeen with 19.7 seconds left.

The Cougars still had a chance to tie or win the game, but couldn't get any shot off after, leaving Florida to secure the win.