TAMPA, Fla. – They played with a purpose. They played with poise. They played a team that was outmatched from the opening tip.
But the Gators never let up or never lost focus, knowing to get where they want to go they had to take that first step. They had to win their first NCAA Tournament game since 2007.
The No. 2-seed Gators had no problem, rolling past No. 15-seed UC-Santa Barbara 79-51 on Thursday night at the St. Pete Times Forum. It was Florida's first March Madness victory since defeating Ohio State in the 2007 national championship game.
The Gators (27-7) were very business-like as the final seconds ticked off, walking over to shake hands with the Gauchos (18-14) and quickly moving on. They face the winner of the UCLA-Michigan State game on Saturday for a berth in the Sweet 16.
"You know, it feels good,'' senior Chandler Parsons said of winning a tournament game. "This is our first one, and no one on our team has ever got one, so it feels good to get one. But we're not satisfied. We don't just want to come here and win one game. We want to make some noise.
"We can't get too happy because we're on a mission and we've got another game coming up here Saturday."
Once again, the Gators bounced back from a loss. Florida improved to 7-0 after a loss this season, the latest a 70-54 setback against Kentucky on Sunday in the SEC Tournament final. Of course they had to in order to continue playing. Florida has lost just twice in its last 13 games, both times to the Wildcats.
"This is huge, just for us to come out and get the loss out of our brains,'' Florida guard Erving Walker said. "But I mean, we just wanted to come out here and play hard. We knew it was one-and-done from here on out."
Florida showed no signs of any hangover from Sunday's loss, responding with an early 10-0 run after the Gauchos scored the game's first point on a free throw by James Nunnally.
Parsons was in the middle of it all, recording two assists and a steal on Florida's first two baskets.Parsons then hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Gators up 10-1 less than four minutes into the game.
"Chandler got us going in terms of his ball movement -- eight assists in the first half,'' Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I thought he was really unselfish, [did] a lot of great things."
UC-Santa Barbara closed to within 18-11 later in the half, but Florida went on a 17-2 run to slam the door on any hopes of the Gauchos pulling the biggest upset on the day.
Parsons, the SEC Player of the Year, showed why with one of his best all-around performances of his senior season. Parsons finished with 10 points, a career-high 10 assists and seven rebounds, flirting with becoming the first UF player in history to record a triple-double in the NCAA Tournament.
Parsons' bid ended when Donovan started to empty the bench early in the second half as the Gators' lead mushroomed to as many as 34 points twice in the second half against the Big West Conference Tournament champion Gauchos.
Walker wasn't too bad either, hitting 4 of 6 three-points to score a team-high 18 points. Walker also added six assists. Kenny Boynton added 13 points and Vernon Macklin finished with 10. Ten different Gators scored in the first meeting in school history with UCSB.
The most important part of Thursday's win for the Gators was how they closed the game once they built the huge first-half lead.
"We didn't stop,'' Parsons said. "Once we were playing well, once we were hitting shots, playing unselfish, we just kept going. We didn't let up, we didn't let them come back in the game and we kept our foot on the gas, and that's something we needed to have is that killer instinct.''
Florida shot 54.7 percent (29 of 53), including 70 percent from inside the three-point line (21 of 30). The hot shooting allowed Florida to build a 43-19 halftime lead that was never threatened in the second half.
The Gauchos shot just 27.3 percent (6 of 22) in the first 20 minutes. The 19 points are the fewest the Gators have ever allowed in the first half of an NCAA Tournament game.
Orlando Johnson led UC-Santa Barbara with a game-high 21 points, 14 coming after halftime with the game out of reach.
There was a lot of talk about whether the Gators deserved the No. 2 seed in the Southeast Region following Sunday's loss to Kentucky. They played every bit worth that seeding on Thursday, making a strong opening statement in the tournament.
"This is the first time where this is season-ending stuff,'' Donovan said. "I thought that they came in very, very focused, and I think they learned some valuable lessons from the Kentucky game of what they needed to do better.
"I felt like coming in here that they were in the right frame of mind, they had the right focus and they really wanted to come out here and play well.''
