PHOENIX
— The
Gators will face Louisville at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
Exactly
as his coach asked him to, Bradley Beal is bringing out his 'A' game.
His latest bit of wizardry moved Florida a win away from the Final
Four and set up Billy Donovan with a perfectly scripted matchup
against his old coach and boss, Rick Pitino.
Beal,
the freshman with NBA written all over him, scored 21 points on
8-for-10 shooting Thursday night to help the Gators to a 68-58
victory over Marquette.
Next
up for No. 7 Florida (26-10) is a West Regional final Saturday
against Louisville and Pitino, who taught ol' Billy The Kid a lot of
what he knows.
"Obviously,
I've said that outside of my parents, he's the most influential
person in my life," Donovan said.
The
most influential person on Donovan's team? On this night, it was
Beal. He also had six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two
blocked shots, including one on Jae Crowder while the third-seeded
Golden Eagles (27-8) were desperately trying to claw back after
trailing by 14.
Crowder,
a senior and the Big East player of the year, never found his touch.
After sitting for eight minutes in the first half with foul trouble,
he finished with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting while another
Marquette senior, Darius Johnson-Odom, also went 5 for 15 in a
struggle to reach 14 points.
"We
struggled being in rhythm most of the game," coach Buzz Williams
said. "Jae has always played more than 12 minutes in a half, but
it's dangerous for him to pick up his third, so he sat a lot the
half. When you're playing against a team as good as Florida and
you're playing without your key guys, it's hard for that rhythm to
get established."
Erving
Walker had 11 for the Gators, including a 3-pointer that came after
Patric Young scrapped for an offensive rebound with 2:05 left. It
snapped a 6-0 Marquette run that pulled the third-seeded Golden
Eagles to within six.
But
the biggest difference maker was Beal, a high school national player
of the year whom Donovan has been pushing to be more assertive,
especially after the Gators lost four of five heading into the
tournament.
"He
doesn't want to step on toes; he's very aware of his place on the
team," Donovan said, in explaining Beal's slow acceptance of a
leading role. "You can't do anything but love him because of the
way he handles himself."
In
the second half, Beal served up about five perfect examples of what
he can do when he steps up a bit. Blanketed by Marquette's Todd Mayo,
Beal hesitated, took a stutter step, then breezed past him for a
reverse layup that would've made George Gervin proud.
It
was the second time he'd blown past Mayo for a layup. He also had a
3-pointer, a couple of free throws and a pretty assist to Young to
help the Gators go up 56-44 with less than five minutes left. For
cappers, he dunked for the last points of the game, leaving him one
short of the high-water scoring mark of his one-year —
one-and-done? — college career.
This
is Florida's second straight trip to the regional final. Last year,
the Gators lost to Butler — one of the NCAA tournament's great
stories of 2010 and 2011. An early candidate for 2012 could be the
upcoming coaching showdown. Donovan was the undersized-but-gritty
guard who helped Pitino and Providence make a run into the Final Four
back in 1987.
A
bit later, Donovan went against his mentor's advice, quit a job on
Wall Street then came to be Pitino's assistant. A great coaching mind
was born, and now Donovan has two national titles and three trips to
the Final Four, compared to one championship and five Final Fours for
his old boss.
According
to STATS, Pitino is 6-0 against Donovan, two of those in
Florida-Louisville matchups.
"These
are hard games, because they're such close relationships,"
Donovan said. "But I do think the game is really about players
playing in the game who are going to be competing on Saturday."
Marquette,
meanwhile, exits the tournament in the round of 16 for the second
straight year. Mayo had 11 for the Golden Eagles, who shot 31 percent
and were held 18 points under their season average.
"Anytime
you get beat, it's a bailout to just say you didn't make shots,"
Williams said. "You always give credit to the opponent, the
staff that beat you."
Kenny
Boynton (11 points) made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to ice
it for the Gators, who won back-to-back titles in 2006-07.
