As the Gators closed their 120th minute of action over a six-day stretch, fatigue was clearly taking a toll.
Florida had just let a late lead slip away and was now facing the prospect of playing five grueling minutes with the momentum and a sellout crowd firmly against it.
Coach Billy Donovan said he could sense his team’s will starting to crack when Georgia tied it at the buzzer.
“Going into the first overtime, our team was teetering a little bit emotionally,” Donovan said. “I give our guys credit. We battled and fought.”
The Gators had just completed 40 minutes filled with high-pressure defense and low-post shoving matches, only to endure the mental strain that comes with giving away an eight-point lead in the final 3:08.
“There was definitely fatigue,” senior forward Chandler Parsons said. “I was getting tired, but we fought through it. This is what we do.”
Florida scraped its way to a win Tuesday night, something it could not accomplish in its last double-overtime contest. Against BYU in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, fans were met with the lasting image of Kenny Boynton hunched over, exhausted after 40 minutes of intense play.
But Boynton, who played a team-high 45 minutes Tuesday, still looked fresh in the game’s closing moments — as did the rest of the Gators.
“We’re a great conditioned team, so we didn’t want to give up,” Parsons said. “We wanted to keep executing, keep making stops, and it really paid off.”
Florida’s capacity to persevere hinged directly on the same factor that has been a predictor of its energy level all year: the ability to make shots. UF hit nine shots over 10 overtime minutes, spurring an adrenaline rush that pushed it to the win.
“When you make shots in overtime, it can kind of revitalize you a little bit,” Donovan said. “In the first overtime, they played with a lot of energy. The ball was going in.”
