UNC out of its depth against Gators
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- It was Billy Ball at its finest.
Confuse the opponent early, wear it down late, then walk off with a victory and, in this case, a shot at a national title against Michigan State.
|  | | Donnell Harvey goes toward two of his eight points for the Gators. |
Florida beat North Carolina 71-59 on Saturday night the same way
it has been beating teams all season. Anyone who saw Kentucky win
it all in 1996 with Rick Pitino -- Billy Donovan's mentor -- at the
helm would have found it familiar.
"I can't say we've come to expect it," Donovan said of the
seeming inevitability that Florida eventually will confuse and
exhaust every team it plays. "Because you never know. A team may
make it all the way through."
Not North Carolina.
The Gators opened the game with their trademark full-court
press, forcing the Tar Heels to commit five turnovers in the first
eight minutes.
North Carolina figured things out after falling behind 18-3.
Behind the 7-foot power of Brendan Haywood and the shooting of Joe
Forte, the Tar Heels climbed into the lead early in the second
half.
Then, the second part of Donovan's one-two combo started kicking in.
The Gators, who had been freely substituting all day, still had
legs. The Tar Heels could barely stand on theirs.
Florida's reserves outscored North Carolina's 37-2. But as much
as the points, it was the fatigue that mattered.
"That's our style of play," Florida guard Brett Nelson said.
"We might get down six or eight, but we never give up. We just
keep playing and playing and playing. Because we know we might get
a steal and hit a 3, and then, we're right back in it."
True to Nelson's word, the Gators were at their best soon after
they lost the lead.
Behind 50-46 with 13 minutes left, the Gators held North
Carolina to three field goals. Forte shot two air balls. Some of
his teammates had trouble getting the ball to the rim. Spot-up jump
shots turned into unconvincing floaters, a sure sign of a team
starting to wear down physically.
Breaking the press proved just as difficult. The Tar Heels could
slice through Florida's traps by the second half, but used up too
much energy doing it.
Meanwhile, Florida was fresh. Coming off the bench, Nelson had
seven points and two assists during a 12-3 run that put the Gators
up for good.
"We absorbed their blows and countered with our blows,"
Florida's Justin Hamilton said. "It's something we've done all
year -- wear teams down in the end."
Fouls started plaguing both teams late, but in the true
Donovan-Pitino method, it didn't hurt the Gators as much. The
Florida coach could rotate big men Udonis Haslem and Donnell Harvey
-- both with four fouls -- in and out.
Tar Heels coach Bill Guthridge didn't have that option. Forte,
Ed Cota and Jason Capel all had to play tentatively with four fouls
through the better part of the final 10 minutes.
Indeed, this was what Donovan had been preaching to his team all
season and to everyone else all this week. The system, he insisted,
would win out when the Final Four rolled around.
"It's not for me to say whether we wore North Carolina out,"
Donovan said. "I would probably go by what they said after the
game."
"Fatigue was a factor," Haywood said.
The scoreboard couldn't have told the story any better.
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