The Gators have waited 363 days to return to the Big Dance.
On March 24, 2012, Florida blew an 11-point lead during the second half of a 72-68 loss to Louisville in the NCAA West Regional Final. The defeat marked the Gators’ second straight Elite Eight exit.
Third-seeded Florida will try to get over the hump and advance to its first Final Four in six years beginning tonight at 7:27 against No. 14 seed Northwestern State in Austin, Texas, on truTV.
“Well, you know, sometimes when I just reflect on my career here, I had two chances where I should have possibly, could have possibly been to the Final Four. We just came up short,” junior center Patric Young said. “Can’t still linger on it. Can’t let it affect me in the future.”
On the heels of back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight, the Gators began the season ranked 10th nationally.
Naturally, Florida dealt with the burden of expectations throughout the 2012-13 campaign. A 7-0 start and early-season routs of Wisconsin and Marquette thrust UF into the national spotlight.
“I think they’re good enough to win the whole thing,” Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams said following his team’s 82-49 loss to UF on Nov. 29 in the O’Connell Center.
After their profile cooled with losses to Arizona and Kansas State, the Gators returned to the limelight, ascending to the No. 2 spot in the AP Poll after winning eight straight Southeastern Conference games by an average margin of 26.5 points.
“I think they will contend for the national championship,” guard Marshall Henderson said after Florida defeated Ole Miss 78-64 on Feb. 2. “I see them being No. 1 in the country by the end of the season.”
The Gators then fell on tough times.
Junior forward Will Yeguete missed six games after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his right knee on Feb. 8.
Freshman guard Michael Frazier II and junior forward Casey Prather were also limited by injury.
In a 64-58 road loss to Tennessee — Florida’s third defeat in its last four games away from home — the Gators used an eight-man rotation. Five guys played 29 minutes or more. The other three totaled 27.
“We don’t have any excuses. When we line up to play, we play,” coach Billy Donovan said after the loss in Knoxville, Tenn. “Was there fatigue? Sure. Were we small sometimes and got hurt with that lineup? Yes. But I always believe if there’s a will, there’s a way, and there are things you ought to be able to overcome. We went to battle with what we had.”
Shorthanded Florida’s 5-3 record in February trimmed its lead in the SEC standings to one game. But the Gators rebounded, clinching the SEC regular season title in a 66-40 win against Vanderbilt on March 6 and coming three points short of winning the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Sunday’s 66-63 loss to Ole Miss in the SEC tourney final was Florida’s first dose of single elimination this year.
“You’re getting into finality. What you’ve got to be able to do in these situations and games is go out there and play with great freedom, great confidence. Just go out there and play,” coach Billy Donovan said. “There’s always a level of nervousness, jitters, apprehension. It’s totally normal. You’ve got to play through some of that stuff.”
Florida has struggled in close games. The Gators are 0-6 in games decided by single digits this season. After losing in the Elite Eight the last two seasons by a combined seven points, Florida knows it has little margin for error moving forward.
“We just can’t have any slippage,” senior forward Erik Murphy said.
“We can’t have any mistakes, any dumb mistakes, or things that can give teams opportunities to beat us.”
Young added: “If we get into similar situations as we were in the Butler and Louisville games, just give it more fight. Don’t let up until the final buzzer rings. When that’s over, then you can finally rest, but stay on edge the whole time. … We have to close out games. We’ve got to stay focused on doing our jobs.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Florida celebrates a 66-40 win against Vanderbilt on March 6 in the O’Connell Center. The Gators clinched the Southeastern Conference regular season title with the victory.
