ATLANTA — After the confetti fell and the nets were cut, Florida learned its spot in the NCAA Tournament.
ATLANTA — After scoring a team-high 13 points in the first half of Florida’s semifinal matchup with Tennessee, Scottie Wilbekin was almost nonexistent in the second half in terms of point production.
ATLANTA — With the first half in the books and Florida trailing 35-28 against Tennessee, coach Billy Donovan harped on one message during his halftime speech.
ATLANTA — Before No. 1 seed Florida cruised past eighth-seeded Missouri 72-49 on Friday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals, it had struggled for almost 30 minutes to pull away.
The last time Florida faced off against Missouri, Chris Walker was getting cheers for just walking to the scorer’s table, Dorian Finney-Smith had just begun the worst shooting month of his career and the Gators were only halfway through their historic Southeastern Conference run.
For Dorian Finney-Smith, Atlanta brings back plenty of unpleasant memories.
The Gators finished their best regular season in school history on Saturday, and on Tuesday, they received the hardware to prove it.
On Feb. 21, 2007, the Gators cut down the nets in the O’Connell Center to celebrate their Southeastern Conference title despite having three more regular season games on the schedule.
After two games in as many days, fifth-seeded Florida was bounced from the Southeastern Conference Tournament by No. 12 Kentucky on Friday following a strong showing against Mississippi State on Thursday.
After No. 1 Florida sealed an 84-65 win against No. 25 Kentucky in the O’Connell Center on Saturday, senior forward Will Yeguete hoisted a sign that read “18-0 and more to go.”
On Friday, the third time was the charm for Kentucky.
A well-rounded effort on Thursday afternoon propelled Florida to a 71-67 win over Mississippi State in its first game of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Michael Frazier II had a career day as he carried the Gators on offense Tuesday night.
Despite a valiant effort against a physically superior team, Florida came up short on Senior Day in Gainesville against No. 17 Texas A&M, 83-72.
No. 1 Florida earned a school-record 27th win on the season Saturday night with a 79-61 victory over LSU in the O’Connell Center.
With a mighty No. 17 Texas A&M squad looming on the horizon, Florida needed a win at Vanderbilt to have a better chance of earning a ticket to the NCAA tournament.
Scottie Wilbekin couldn’t ice the game, Michael Frazier II couldn’t break out from behind the arc and Casey Prather couldn’t score during the game’s last 32 minutes.
With two games remaining in the season, the Gators hope to round back into the form that’s given them a shot at making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
Although the Gators are no longer the same team of years past, one that lived and died by the three-point shot, they were forced to turn back the clocks Saturday and rely on perimeter shooting to pull out a four-point Southeastern Conference win on the road.
Billy Donovan did not waste any time letting the media know who played the better game Wednesday night.
Solutions by The State News
