ARLINGTON, Texas — When the buzzer sounded Sunday, Florida walked off the floor as Michigan guard Trey Burke dashed to the edge of the court and held up four fingers. He then huddled with his teammates — each decked out in Final Four gear — and celebrated midcourt.
For UF, the scene was all too familiar. The Gators’ season had come to a close in the Elite Eight for the third straight year.
Michigan dominated Florida all afternoon as cold shooting doomed the third-seeded Gators (29-8) in their 79-59 loss to the No. 4 seed Wolverines (30-7) in the South Region final in Cowboys Stadium. The 20-point loss is UF’s largest margin of defeat this season.
“The better team won today,” guard Kenny Boynton said. “I really wish we could start the game over, but we can’t.”
Late-game collapses highlighted Florida’s last two Elite Eight losses against Butler in 2011 and Louisville in 2012, but Sunday’s contest was never close.
Michigan took a 13-0 lead in the first 3:05 after burying 6 of its first 8 field-goal attempts and led by 19 points with 7:08 left in the first half.
UF struggled to finish hook shots and open looks in the post. The Gators began the game shooting 3 of 17.
“They got off to a hot start, and us not being able to manufacture enough points I thought really, really dug us a hole,” coach Billy Donovan said. “They were switching out on the perimeter. We probably needed to have more of a presence at the basket. I thought we got that on some drives and some post feeds, but a lot of times we weren’t able to convert.”
Florida cut Michigan’s lead to 30-15 at the 6:04 mark, but UM responded with an 11-2 run during a 2-minute span.
Wolverines guard Nik Stauskas drained all six of his three-point attempts and scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the first half.
When Florida keyed in on Burke during pick-and-rolls and sent a third defender at him, the 6-foot sophomore found Stauskas open on the left side of the arc.
“We noticed that he was hot early on in the first half,” Burke said. “We tried to continue to find ways to find him when he was open.”
Said Stauskas: “During warm-ups, I felt it right away. I felt it was going to be one of those days.”
The Gators responded with an 11-2 run to pull within 43-28, but guard Michael Frazier II fouled Stauskas on a three-point attempt before the first half ended. Stauskas made 2 of 3 free throws to give Michigan a 47-30 halftime lead — matching Florida’s largest halftime deficit this year.
Florida cut Michigan’s lead to 11 points with 17:35 remaining in the second half, but the Wolverines outscored the Gators 18-8 during the next 8:50 and led by as many as 22 points in the second half.
“We gave them open shots. We missed open shots,” guard Scottie Wilbekin said. “We had some dumb plays, didn’t make the right plays on offense. Didn’t play well on defense. And they made us pay every time.”
Florida shot 41.1 percent from the field, but finished 2 of 10 from behind the arc. Forward Will Yeguete and Boynton each scored 13 points for the Gators, while forward Erik Murphy went scoreless on 0-of-11 shooting.
“We didn’t execute,” Murphy said. “We just weren’t getting what we wanted on offense and shots weren’t falling. They were guarding us well. It was them.”
The Woverines shot 46.2 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Michigan advances to its first Final Four since 1993 and will face Syracuse on Saturday in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Boynton, Murphy and guard Mike Rosario leave Florida with three Elite Eight appearances but no Final Four berths.
“It’s disappointing, honestly,” Boynton said. “To make it to the Elite Eight, some players never even make it to the NCAA Tournament. So you know, I’m proud of my team that we made it this far.”
Senior Erik Murphy stares at the locker room floor following Florida’s 79-59 loss to Michigan on Sunday in Cowboys Stadium. The Gators’ season ended in the Elite Eight for a third consecutive year.
