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Chomp and romp - Gators rule again in men's hoops
Florida’s 84-75 win over Ohio State puts team in select company as repeat titlist
The NCAA News
Florida’s 84-75 win over Ohio State puts team in select company as repeat titlist
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The NCAA News
As one of the school’s main cheers says, it truly is great to be a Florida Gator these days.
The men’s basketball team is making a habit of collecting championship trophies after pulling off a rare national title repeat by defeating Ohio State, 84-75, in the final of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship April 2 in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
A crowd of 51,458 witnessed history. Besides becoming only the seventh institution to win back-to-back championships in the sport, Florida is also the first program to win national titles in both football and basketball in the same academic year.
The Gators won the Bowl Championship Series title with a 41-14 victory over Ohio State January 8.
The basketball Gators took home the 2006 trophy as a No. 3 seed. Florida added a matching piece of hardware this time around with heavy expectations.
Florida lost three games in the Southeastern Conference in late February, which raised eyebrows, but when postseason play started, the Gators were back at optimum form.
“I’m so proud of our team, just the way that we’ve been able to handle adversity this year, the way we stayed together,” said Florida center Al Horford. “It feels really good to be in an elite group.”
Horford was referring to Florida joining Oklahoma State (1945-46), Kentucky (1948-49), San Francisco (1955-56), Cincinnati (1961-62), UCLA (1964-65 and 1967-73) and Duke (1991-92) as teams to capture consecutive titles.
“Hopefully, we will be viewed as one of the best college basketball teams to ever play the game,” said Florida’s Corey Brewer, who was named the most outstanding player in the Final Four. “We’re a team.”
All the parts on this Florida team fit — good interior presence from Horford, Joakim Noah and Chris Richard and strong perimeter play from Brewer, Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey and Walter Hodge.
The Gators, 35-5, made 26-of-53 field-goal attempts, including 10-of-18 from three-point range.
“We took away what we wanted to take away from them, but the difference was they made some incredible plays,” said Ohio State coach Thad Matta, whose team finished 35-4. “When you’re playing a great team like Florida and those guys step up and make the plays, there’s not a lot you can do. They made some incredible plays on us.”
One of the best examples came during a stretch late in the first half. Ohio State’s Ivan Harris made a three-pointer with 5:39 left to bring the Buckeyes to within 24-22. Ninety-one seconds later the deficit was 33-22, courtesy of successive three-pointers by Humphrey, Brewer and Green.
Florida held a 40-29 advantage at the intermission.
Ohio State tried to stay close behind the play of freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. The duo combined for 45 points (25 by Oden and 20 from Conley), but Ohio State never cut the lead below six points in the second half.
Florida, which defeated UCLA, 76-66, in the semifinals, received its usual balanced production. Horford scored 18, followed by Green (16), Humphrey (14) and Brewer (13).
Last year after Florida cut down the nets in Indianapolis, the class of Horford, Noah, Brewer and Green all said they were returning to Gainesville, Florida, with thoughts of repeating as national champions.
That impressed Gators coach Billy Donovan.
“The consistency on teams is not like it used to be,” Donovan said. “There used to be a time in college basketball where freshmen came in and knew they had to wait their turn. Because freshmen have made such an immediate impact in college — because rookies have made an impact at a young age in the NBA — a lot of these kids want the opportunity to play right away. … Those things are what make it so difficult in this day and age to try to get to that point (to win consecutive championships).”
Regionals
Midwest: Florida 65, Butler 57; Oregon 76, UNLV 72; Florida 85, Oregon 77.
West: Kansas 61, Southern Ill. 58; UCLA 64, Pittsburgh 55; UCLA 68, Kansas 55.
East: North Carolina 74, Southern California 64; Georgetown 66, Vanderbilt 65; Georgetown 96, North Carolina 84 (ot).
South: Ohio St. 85, Tennessee 84; Memphis 65, Texas A&M 64; Ohio St. 92, Memphis 76.
Semifinals
Ohio St. 67, Georgetown 60
Georgetown: DaJuan Summers 1-10, 1-2, 3, 3; Jeff Green 4-5, 1-2, 12, 9; Roy Hibbert 9-13, 1-4, 6, 19; Jonathan Wallace 7-12, 0-0, 1, 19; Jessie Sapp 4-9, 0-0, 2, 10; Vernon Macklin 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0; Jeremiah Rivers 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Tyler Crawford 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Patrick Ewing Jr. 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0. Totals: 25-51, 3-8, 30, 60.
Ohio St.: Ivan Harris 3-7, 2-4, 7, 9; Greg Oden 6-11, 1-4, 9, 13; Mike Conley Jr. 7-12, 0-0, 5, 15; Ron Lewis 1-8, 7-8, 0, 9; Jamar Butler 4-9, 0-0, 0, 10; David Lighty 2-3, 1-1, 3, 5; Daquan Cook 0-4, 2-2, 0, 2; Matt Terwilliger 1-1, 0-0, 3, 2; Othello Hunter 1-2, 0-0, 4, 2.
Halftime: Ohio St. 27, Georgetown 23. Three-point field goals: Georgetown 7-21 (Wallace 5-9, Sapp 2-7, Ewing 0-1, Summers 0-4); Ohio St. 4-14 (Butler 2-6, Harris 1-1, Conley 1-3, Cook 0-1, Lewis 0-3). Officials: Ted Valentine, Richard Cartmell, Mike Kitts.
Florida 76, UCLA 66
UCLA: Josh Shipp 7-14, 4-4, 4, 18; Luc R. Mbah a Moute 2-4, 0-0, 5, 4; Lorenzo Mata 3-6, 0-0, 2, 6; Darren Collison 3-14, 2-2, 0, 9; Arron Afflalo 5-14, 4-4, 3, 17; Russell Westbrook 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2; Ryan Wright 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Alfred Aboya 2-4, 1-2, 3, 5; James Keefe 1-1, 0-1, 6, 2; Michael Roll 1-5, 0-0, 1, 3. Totals: 25-64, 11-13, 26, 66.
Florida: Corey Brewer 5-7, 5-6, 2, 19; Joakim Noah 3-7, 2-7, 11, 8; Al Horford 2-3, 6-9, 17, 9; Taurean Green 2-9, 5-6, 4, 10; Lee Humphrey 5-9, 0-1, 2, 14; Walter Hodge 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0; Dan Werner 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; Chris Richard 7-7, 2-2, 4, 16. Totals: 24-45, 19-31, 43, 76.
Halftime: Florida 29, UCLA 23. Three-point field goals: UCLA 5-23 (Afflalo 3-9, Roll 1-4, Collison 1-6, Shipp 0-4); Florida 9-22 (Brewer 4-5, Humphrey 4-8, Green 1-7, Hodge 0-1, Werner 0-1). Officials: Tom O’Neill, Verne Harris, Curtis Shaw.
Championship game
Florida 84, Ohio St. 75
Ohio St.: Ivan Harris 2-8, 1-2, 5, 7; Greg Oden 10-15, 5-8, 12, 25; Mike Conley Jr. 7-13, 5-6, 3, 20; Ron Lewis 6-13, 0-1, 3, 12; Jamar Butler 1-7, 0-0, 2, 3; David Lighty 2-3, 0-0, 0, 4; Daquan Cook 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2; Matt Terwilliger 1-1, 0-0, 0, 2; Othello Hunter 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0. Totals: 30-64, 11-17, 28, 75.
Florida: Corey Brewer 4-12, 2-2, 8, 13; Joakim Noah 1-3, 6-6, 3, 8; Al Horford 6-15, 6-8, 12, 18; Taurean Green 4-6, 5-5, 3, 16; Lee Humphrey 5-8, 0-0, 1, 14; Walter Hodge 2-2, 1-1, 1, 5; Chris Richard 3-5, 2-3, 8, 8; Marreese Speights 1-2, 0-0, 2, 2. Totals: 26-53, 22-25, 38, 84.
Halftime: Florida 40, Ohio St. 29. Three-point field goals: Ohio St. 4-23 (Harris 2-8, Conley 1-3, Butler 1-6, Lighty 0-1, Cook 0-1, Lewis 0-4); Florida 10-18 (Humphrey 4-7, Green 3-3, Brewer 3-8). Officials: Karl Hess, Edward Corbett, Tony Greene.
The men’s basketball team is making a habit of collecting championship trophies after pulling off a rare national title repeat by defeating Ohio State, 84-75, in the final of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship April 2 in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
A crowd of 51,458 witnessed history. Besides becoming only the seventh institution to win back-to-back championships in the sport, Florida is also the first program to win national titles in both football and basketball in the same academic year.
The Gators won the Bowl Championship Series title with a 41-14 victory over Ohio State January 8.
The basketball Gators took home the 2006 trophy as a No. 3 seed. Florida added a matching piece of hardware this time around with heavy expectations.
Florida lost three games in the Southeastern Conference in late February, which raised eyebrows, but when postseason play started, the Gators were back at optimum form.
“I’m so proud of our team, just the way that we’ve been able to handle adversity this year, the way we stayed together,” said Florida center Al Horford. “It feels really good to be in an elite group.”
Horford was referring to Florida joining Oklahoma State (1945-46), Kentucky (1948-49), San Francisco (1955-56), Cincinnati (1961-62), UCLA (1964-65 and 1967-73) and Duke (1991-92) as teams to capture consecutive titles.
“Hopefully, we will be viewed as one of the best college basketball teams to ever play the game,” said Florida’s Corey Brewer, who was named the most outstanding player in the Final Four. “We’re a team.”
All the parts on this Florida team fit — good interior presence from Horford, Joakim Noah and Chris Richard and strong perimeter play from Brewer, Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey and Walter Hodge.
The Gators, 35-5, made 26-of-53 field-goal attempts, including 10-of-18 from three-point range.
“We took away what we wanted to take away from them, but the difference was they made some incredible plays,” said Ohio State coach Thad Matta, whose team finished 35-4. “When you’re playing a great team like Florida and those guys step up and make the plays, there’s not a lot you can do. They made some incredible plays on us.”
One of the best examples came during a stretch late in the first half. Ohio State’s Ivan Harris made a three-pointer with 5:39 left to bring the Buckeyes to within 24-22. Ninety-one seconds later the deficit was 33-22, courtesy of successive three-pointers by Humphrey, Brewer and Green.
Florida held a 40-29 advantage at the intermission.
Ohio State tried to stay close behind the play of freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. The duo combined for 45 points (25 by Oden and 20 from Conley), but Ohio State never cut the lead below six points in the second half.
Florida, which defeated UCLA, 76-66, in the semifinals, received its usual balanced production. Horford scored 18, followed by Green (16), Humphrey (14) and Brewer (13).
Last year after Florida cut down the nets in Indianapolis, the class of Horford, Noah, Brewer and Green all said they were returning to Gainesville, Florida, with thoughts of repeating as national champions.
That impressed Gators coach Billy Donovan.
“The consistency on teams is not like it used to be,” Donovan said. “There used to be a time in college basketball where freshmen came in and knew they had to wait their turn. Because freshmen have made such an immediate impact in college — because rookies have made an impact at a young age in the NBA — a lot of these kids want the opportunity to play right away. … Those things are what make it so difficult in this day and age to try to get to that point (to win consecutive championships).”
Regionals
Midwest: Florida 65, Butler 57; Oregon 76, UNLV 72; Florida 85, Oregon 77.
West: Kansas 61, Southern Ill. 58; UCLA 64, Pittsburgh 55; UCLA 68, Kansas 55.
East: North Carolina 74, Southern California 64; Georgetown 66, Vanderbilt 65; Georgetown 96, North Carolina 84 (ot).
South: Ohio St. 85, Tennessee 84; Memphis 65, Texas A&M 64; Ohio St. 92, Memphis 76.
Semifinals
Ohio St. 67, Georgetown 60
Georgetown: DaJuan Summers 1-10, 1-2, 3, 3; Jeff Green 4-5, 1-2, 12, 9; Roy Hibbert 9-13, 1-4, 6, 19; Jonathan Wallace 7-12, 0-0, 1, 19; Jessie Sapp 4-9, 0-0, 2, 10; Vernon Macklin 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0; Jeremiah Rivers 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Tyler Crawford 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Patrick Ewing Jr. 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0. Totals: 25-51, 3-8, 30, 60.
Ohio St.: Ivan Harris 3-7, 2-4, 7, 9; Greg Oden 6-11, 1-4, 9, 13; Mike Conley Jr. 7-12, 0-0, 5, 15; Ron Lewis 1-8, 7-8, 0, 9; Jamar Butler 4-9, 0-0, 0, 10; David Lighty 2-3, 1-1, 3, 5; Daquan Cook 0-4, 2-2, 0, 2; Matt Terwilliger 1-1, 0-0, 3, 2; Othello Hunter 1-2, 0-0, 4, 2.
Halftime: Ohio St. 27, Georgetown 23. Three-point field goals: Georgetown 7-21 (Wallace 5-9, Sapp 2-7, Ewing 0-1, Summers 0-4); Ohio St. 4-14 (Butler 2-6, Harris 1-1, Conley 1-3, Cook 0-1, Lewis 0-3). Officials: Ted Valentine, Richard Cartmell, Mike Kitts.
Florida 76, UCLA 66
UCLA: Josh Shipp 7-14, 4-4, 4, 18; Luc R. Mbah a Moute 2-4, 0-0, 5, 4; Lorenzo Mata 3-6, 0-0, 2, 6; Darren Collison 3-14, 2-2, 0, 9; Arron Afflalo 5-14, 4-4, 3, 17; Russell Westbrook 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2; Ryan Wright 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Alfred Aboya 2-4, 1-2, 3, 5; James Keefe 1-1, 0-1, 6, 2; Michael Roll 1-5, 0-0, 1, 3. Totals: 25-64, 11-13, 26, 66.
Florida: Corey Brewer 5-7, 5-6, 2, 19; Joakim Noah 3-7, 2-7, 11, 8; Al Horford 2-3, 6-9, 17, 9; Taurean Green 2-9, 5-6, 4, 10; Lee Humphrey 5-9, 0-1, 2, 14; Walter Hodge 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0; Dan Werner 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0; Chris Richard 7-7, 2-2, 4, 16. Totals: 24-45, 19-31, 43, 76.
Halftime: Florida 29, UCLA 23. Three-point field goals: UCLA 5-23 (Afflalo 3-9, Roll 1-4, Collison 1-6, Shipp 0-4); Florida 9-22 (Brewer 4-5, Humphrey 4-8, Green 1-7, Hodge 0-1, Werner 0-1). Officials: Tom O’Neill, Verne Harris, Curtis Shaw.
Championship game
Florida 84, Ohio St. 75
Ohio St.: Ivan Harris 2-8, 1-2, 5, 7; Greg Oden 10-15, 5-8, 12, 25; Mike Conley Jr. 7-13, 5-6, 3, 20; Ron Lewis 6-13, 0-1, 3, 12; Jamar Butler 1-7, 0-0, 2, 3; David Lighty 2-3, 0-0, 0, 4; Daquan Cook 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2; Matt Terwilliger 1-1, 0-0, 0, 2; Othello Hunter 0-2, 0-0, 2, 0. Totals: 30-64, 11-17, 28, 75.
Florida: Corey Brewer 4-12, 2-2, 8, 13; Joakim Noah 1-3, 6-6, 3, 8; Al Horford 6-15, 6-8, 12, 18; Taurean Green 4-6, 5-5, 3, 16; Lee Humphrey 5-8, 0-0, 1, 14; Walter Hodge 2-2, 1-1, 1, 5; Chris Richard 3-5, 2-3, 8, 8; Marreese Speights 1-2, 0-0, 2, 2. Totals: 26-53, 22-25, 38, 84.
Halftime: Florida 40, Ohio St. 29. Three-point field goals: Ohio St. 4-23 (Harris 2-8, Conley 1-3, Butler 1-6, Lighty 0-1, Cook 0-1, Lewis 0-4); Florida 10-18 (Humphrey 4-7, Green 3-3, Brewer 3-8). Officials: Karl Hess, Edward Corbett, Tony Greene.
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