OMAHA, Neb. — For 10 exhilarating days last year, Mike Rosario watched from afar as his teammates made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Though he didn’t travel with the Gators and was redshirting a season after transferring from Rutgers, seeing his teammates pile up victories late in March was something Rosario had always dreamed of.
He watched on TV as his fellow Gators coasted to a pair of early-round wins and ended BYU’s season in a Sweet 16 nail-biter. The next round, however, Florida’s ride through The Big Dance stopped abruptly in an Elite Eight overtime loss to Butler.
This season and this team feel different to Rosario.
Now eligible, he was on the court for both of UF’s double-digit wins in Omaha, Neb., and scored 12 points off the bench Sunday during Florida’s 84-50 third-round win against No. 15 seed Norfolk State.
After helping the Gators rack up their two largest NCAA Tournament victories since the 2006-2007 national championship season, Rosario said he believes he and his teammates are on pace for an even bigger run than last year.
“We have more depth now and we can really make a big jump,” Rosario said. “We just have to stay focused on the task at hand.”
While their transition into the postseason has been anything but smooth — Florida lost four of its last five to remove some luster from its Selection Sunday resume — Rosario believes playing tournament-caliber teams this season has given the Gators an edge in single-elimination games.
“We went up against the best of the best: Syracuse, Ohio State, Kentucky (three times) and Vanderbilt (twice),” he said. “We learned a lot from those games and now when it’s most important, we are coming together and bonding as one to take that next step.”
Coach Billy Donovan pointed to new contributors like freshman starter Brad Beal as well as bench players like Rosario and Casey Prather as a reason why Florida was able to make it back to the Sweet 16.
With Beal providing a steady 14 points in both the Virginia and Norfolk State wins, the Gators have also gotten a career-high 14 points from Prather on Friday, followed by Rosario’s recent 5-of-7 shooting performance Sunday.
“It’s been rewarding for them to have success,” Donovan said. “You see them go through ups and downs for the season and every team goes through those, but it’s been rewarding.”
After scoring just three points against Virginia, Rosario had eight in the final 4:14 of the first half against Norfolk State.
Rosario nailed a 3-pointer with three seconds to play, giving Florida a 47-19 lead and all of the momentum going into halftime, Donovan said.
The 6-foot-3 guard also helped contribute to Florida’s 48-31 advantage on the boards by hauling in two offensive rebounds, which led immediately to four Gators’ points.
“I didn’t tell Mike, ‘Hey, listen we need you scoring,’” Donovan said. “When you’re locked in those things can happen for you. … He gave us good contributions. I think in this tournament you have to have different guys step up at different times.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Coach Billy Donovan pointed to the efforts of Brad Beal (14 points, nine boards) and Mike Rosario (12 points) as catalysts to UF’s win.
