GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — The Florida Gators won the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship Monday night in San Antonio, TX.

At the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at the University of Florida campus, thousands of students and fans stormed the court after what they describe as a nail-biting finish.

“I literally sat down and started praying,” Wesley Chapel native and double-Gator Taylor McKinney said. “I was so nervous, but I believed in them the whole time.”

“I’m so grateful,” she added.

Brandon McDonald said it’s a night he will never forget.

“I’m a Gainesville native, so you know, people go to school and come here for a year,” he said. “No, I’ve been here since I came out of my mother’s womb.”

“I’m a Florida gator,” he continued. “If you cut me, I bleed orange and blue.”

“Almost two decades ago, we did this,” McDonald said. “Now, we did it again.”

Josh Hoffenberg moved back to Gainesville one year ago, after seeing the Gators bring home their previous championship title 18 years ago.

“2007, it was my first year here from South Florida,” he said. “The Gators won the national championship in 2007.”

“It was mayhem down here in 2007,” Hoffenberg continued. “I moved here a year ago, and we won again.”

Florida and Houston’s programs have been dominant all season, from their rosters to coaching and especially a relentless drive to win.

And though Houston had a 12-point lead in the second half, the Florida Gators came back and won the game 65-63.

The national champion Florida Gators men’s basketball team will return to Gainesville on Tuesday to host a welcome-back rally with students and fans.

The event is set for 1:30 p.m. at Flavet Field on the UF campus.