The Gators did not have much time to celebrate or recover from their emotionally draining victory against Florida State on Dec. 4.
The next day, No. 1 Florida (29-1, 20-0 Southeastern Conference) was already at work preparing for its next opponent: Purdue (23-10, 12-8 Big Ten).
“We woke up Sunday morning and had to watch the video to make sure we won,” coach Mary Wise said. “We met with the team Sunday afternoon and then we put closure on it. We talked about what we learned, the reason for the closeness of the match in terms of how great Florida State played and some of the things we needed to have done better.
But all of the talk about the FSU victory stopped there. From then on, UF’s focus shifted toward beating Purdue, Wise’s alma mater.
The Gators will travel to Austin, Texas, to face the 16th–seeded Boilermakers in the NCAA regional semifinals Friday at 6 p.m.
After watching video of Purdue, Wise noticed similarities with other ranked opponents the Gators have defeated this season.
“They run the 5-1 offense similar to Colorado State and are a great blocking team like Colorado State,” Wise said. “The difference is they are a back-row team that would be more like LSU in terms of the way they use their defensive substitutes and they’re just really, really fast in the back row.”
If Florida wins, it will take on the winner of Illinois (24-8) and Texas (25-5).
Florida and Purdue will be meeting for only the sixth time ever. The Gators lead the series 3-2 with the last contest dating all the way back to Sept. 2, 1995.
Purdue opened its NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-17, 25-18) victory against Kentucky. The Boilermakers were also able to do something that the Gators were unable to do — defeat Penn State. Purdue took care of the Nittany Lions 3-2 (21-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-11) on Oct. 8.
“If you play any team that’s coming out of the Big Ten, in recent pasts, you’re playing a team that’s battle-tested,” Wise said.
“This Purdue team in particular features the best of both — they’re big and physical in the front row and they are jet-fast and great ball-handlers in the back row. They’re going to be a real tough matchup for us and that’s the way it’s supposed to be when you get to this round with only 16 teams left.”
