Humphrey Leads Florida Past Oregon

If it's not Joakim Noah or Al Horford doing the scoring, it's always one of those little guys. While they might not be the big headline grabbers like their frontcourt teammates, the Florida guard tandem of Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey is more than capable of carrying the Florida Gators to victory. Against Oregon on Sunday afternoon, that's exactly what they did. Humphrey scored a team-high 23 points for the Gators and Green added 21 of his own as Florida knocked off Oregon 85-77.

Humphrey was the star of the show, as he poured in seven more three pointers, adding to his Florida career record. He had to be great, though, as Oregon managed to control the Florida big men. Junior star Joakin Noah spent much of Sunday afternoon in foul trouble and battling for position against quicker players from Oregon. On more than one occasion, the 6'3 Humphrey made a long jumpshot to snub out an Oregon run.

The Ducks battled hard to keep themselves in the game, but could never quite get enough momentum to take the lead. Behind the hot shooting of point guard Aaron Brooks, Oregon managed to stay within reach. When Brooks managed to scored five straight points early in the second half, the Ducks were able to tie the game at 45. Florida coach Billy Donovan calmly called a timeout, though, killing every bit of Oregon momentum. From there, Green scored five straight points of his own and Florida never relinquished the lead.

Much of Oregon's offensive ineptitude was the result of some cold shooting by freshman guard Tajuan Porter. Porter, who stands at only 5'6, struggled to get his shot off against taller, longer players from Florida. Porter had paced the Oregon effort on Friday against UNLV, knocking in a career-high 33 points. On Sunday, he didn't score his first field goal until the game's last minute. He finished with a total of ten points on only 2-12 shooting.

The win gave Florida its 18th consecutive postseason win and tenth straight win in the NCAA tournament. Though they probably didn't play their best basketball, the Gators keep getting it done on a road that they hope leads to another championship. They advance to a Final Four game in Atlanta, where they'll face UCLA in what amounts to a rematch of last year's championship game. The Gators are looking to become the first team to repeat as national champions since Duke in 1995.