PHOENIX – The
Gators started hot but then went cold as Louisville overcame an 11-point
deficit in the second half to knock off the Gators 72-68 in the NCAA West
Region final.
Florida took a 65-54 lead on
Patric Young’s dunk with 8:16 left but Louisville slowly chipped away at the
lead and closed out the game on an 18-3 run to advance to the Final Four.
In a matchup billed as mentor vs.
pupil for the coaching matchup of Louisville’s Rick Pitino against Florida’s
Billy Donovan, it was the mentor once again coming out on top. Pitino improved
to 7-0 all-time against his former player at Providence and assistant at
Kentucky.
The loss ends the Gators’ season
in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year and in similar fashion. Both
times the Gators were unable to hold double-digit late second-half leads.
Florida finished 0-for-9 from
3-point range in the second half after a hot-shooting opening 20 minutes. The
Gators led 41-33 at halftime by making 8 of 11 from behind the 3-point line in
one of their best shooting performances of the season.
Erik Murphy, Kenny Boynton,
Erving Walker and Bradley Beal each had a pair of 3-pointers in the first 20
minutes. Florida’s biggest lead of the half was 39-29 with 1:58 left. Murphy
led the Gators with 10 points in the first half after going scoreless on
0-for-5 shooting in Thursday night’s win over Marquette.
The Gators were able to open some
breathing room late in the first half as Louisville became plagued by fouls.
Cardinals point guard Peyton Siva picked up his second foul with 6:45 left and
did not return before halftime. Florida led 22-21 when Siva went to the bench,
outscoring the Cardinals 19-12 for the rest of the half.
Three other Cardinals – Chane
Behanan, Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith – picked up two fouls in the opening half.
Overall, the Gators shot 66.7
percent in the first half, making 14 of 21 field goals. In Louisville’s 57-44
win over No. 1 seed Michigan State in Thursday’s region semifinals, the
Cardinals held the Spartans to just 14 field goals (14 of 49) for the entire
game.
Murphy and Beal each had 14
points to lead the Gators, while Walker and Boynton finished with 12 each.
The Gators lost for only the second
time all season when leading at halftime. They were 21-1 when leading at the
break prior to Saturday.
Florida ended the season with a
26-11 record.
