Florida Gators Survive, Advance to Final Four

It seems like there's always a different hero for the Florida Gators. Whether it's through the post or with their outside shooting, the Gators just seem to get it done each and every time out on the court. In Sunday's Elite Eight game against Oregon, it was the strong shooting of senior guard Lee Humphrey that carried the Gators to a hard fought 85-77 victory.

Humphrey, the school's all-time leader in made three point baskets, extended that record with seven more triples as he totaled 23 points. Backcourt mate Taurean Green added 21 tough points to help lead the Gators to their 18th consecutive postseason victory.

It wasn't all scoring for the top-seeded Gators, though. They came up big once again with a great defensive effort in order to advance past the Ducks. Oregon freshman guard Tajuan Porter, who had scored a freshman tournament record 33 points on Friday, was held empty from the field until the final minutes. The diminutive Porter finished with only ten points on 2-12 shooting.

Oregon was able to keep it close for most of the game, but could never take control of the game. Their primary offensive mode of operation was to give the ball to point guard Aaron Brooks and let him operate. Brooks, whose specialty is outside shooting and a quick first step, used a combination of those two qualities to score a game-high 27 points. Five consecutive Aaron Brooks points tied the at 45 with just over 17 minutes to play, but as was the case most of the night, Florida responded with a 5-0 run to gain back the lead less than a minute later. From there, Florida managed to keep the upstart Ducks at arms length.

Florida almost opened the door for an Oregon comeback in the closing minutes, as they failed to convert on numerous opportunities from the field in the last five minutes. Point guard Taurean Green, an 86% free throw shooter on the season, even missed two key free throws in the final minute. It wasn't enough of a crack for the Ducks to get through, though, as Corey Brewer closed the door with a key block of an Aaron Brooks layup with 30 seconds remaining.

The Gators move on to the Final Four in Atlanta, where they'll match-up with UCLA in an effort to advance to the national championship game. That game will be a rematch of last year's title game, which Florida won 73-57.