PHOENIX – The
Gators are headed back to the Elite 8 in a matchup that will pit mentor vs.
pupil.
The Gators won their fifth
consecutive Sweet 16 game with a 68-58 victory over Marquette on Thursday night
in the NCAA West Region semifinals. Florida advanced to face Louisville in the
Elite 8 (Saturday, 4:30 p.m. on CBS).
The game matches Florida coach
Billy Donovan against his college coach, Louisville’s Rick Pitino. Donovan is
0-6 all-time in games against Pitino but the two have never met in the
postseason.
Donovan played for Pitino when he
coached Providence and led the Friars to the 1987 Final Four. Pitino also
coached Donovan briefly in the NBA with the Knicks and later hired him as an
assistant at Kentucky. The Cardinals (29-9) advanced with a 57-44 win over
Michigan State, the No. 1 seed in the West Region.
In Florida’s fifth consecutive
Sweet 16 win under Donovan, the Gators gained control by going on a 12-2 run early
in the second half to open a 48-34 lead. Marquette closed to within 6 late in
the game but Florida never folded as Bradley Beal scored a game-high 21 points
and guards Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton scored 11 points apiece.
Before the second-half surge, the
Gators closed the first half on a 9-0 run to grab a 36-30 lead at the break
after trailing by as many as five points (9-4) early in the game. Marquette did
not score for the final 3:53 of the first half.
Beal’s 3-pointer tied the game
30-30, and Florida grabbed a two-point lead on Patric Young’s dunk. Florida
closed the half with baskets from Kenny Boynton and Beal to grab their biggest
lead of the half at the break.
A big key for the Gators was
keeping Marquette’s Jae Crowder in check. Crowder, the Big East Conference
Player of the Year, was plagued by foul trouble in the first half and finished
with 15 points and seven rounds. He shot only 5 of 15, including 1 of 7 from
beyond the arc.
Florida held high-scoring
Marquette to just 30 percent shooting from the floor and 28 percent from
three-point range. In three NCAA Tournament games now, the Gators are limiting
opponents to just 51.0 points per game and have allowed none to reach 60 points.
