PHOENIX — Before the Gators could beat Marquette, they had to talk Butler.
In a film session prior to travelling to U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, Billy Donovan rehashed the memory of last year’s 74-71 overtime loss to the Bulldogs, specifically the Gators’ inability to grab loose balls and their failure to make hustle plays down the stretch.
Against a team like the No. 3 seed Golden Eagles, Donovan knew repeating the same meltdown could stamp a final death sentence on the seventh-seeded Gators’ season.
While most of the blame Florida’s coach heard last year after the Elite Eight defeat to Butler concerned both Kenny Boynton’s and Erving Walker’s shot selection, Donovan felt the criticism was unwarranted.
“What we didn’t do is we gave up the last eight minutes of the game something like 13 points off of loose ball situations,” Donovan said on Monday. “In my opinion that’s where the game was won and lost.”
On Thursday night in the Sweet 16 against the Golden Eagles, there was no bowing out of the NCAA Tournament again for the Gators due to a lack of hustle.
Instead, Florida became the aggressor and buckled down on defensive end to beat Marquette 68-58. For the second straight year, the Gators advance to the Elite Eight and will play Saturday against No. 4 seed Louisville at 4:30 p.m.
With the Gators shooting 25.9 percent from three on the night, senior guard Erving Walker said the foundation for Florida’s run began on the defensive end in the opening 20 minutes.
“Our defense was the key,” Walker said. “Obviously, we struggled shooting the ball. Brad (Beal) made some great shots for us today but defense was what won it for us.”
Coming into the game, Donovan said Florida would be overcoming mental mistakes against Marquette’s defense, which averages 16.6 forced turnovers per game.
When the Golden Eagles were able to hamstring the Gators into one of their 11 giveaways, it usually didn’t take long for the UF player responsible for the turnover or one of his teammates to right the error.
In a tied game with less than five minutes to play in the first half, the 5-foot-8 Walker responded from a carrying call on offense by hauling in a defensive rebound on Marquette’s ensuing possession over 6-foot-1 guard Junior Cadougan.
Walker was also fouled on the play and made a pair of free throws at the other end to give Florida a 27-25 lead with 4:49 left in the opening half.
“Against Marquette they’re going to turn you over sometimes and there’s going to be mistakes in the game,” Walker said. “That’s how they like to play but you’ve got to cause them to make mistakes and just move on to the next play when it happens.”
The trend spilled over into the second half when the Gators held a 54-44 lead with 5:47 left to play. During a Marquette possession, Florida withstood two offensive rebounds and two missed shots by the Golden Eagles in a frenzied 20 seconds before Beal blocked the third attempt by MU senior Jae Crowder.
Florida’s Patric Young came up with one of his nine rebounds off the block and opened up a fast break opportunity for Beal at the other end.
“Just got in there,” Young said. “We knew how great of a loose ball, rebounding team they were and the last few games we have been doing a really good job rebounding. Our guards have been getting in there. I finally got in there and almost got 10.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
UF coach Billy Donovan used last year’s Elite Eight loss to Butler as motivation for the Gators’ Sweet 16 matchup against Marquette.
