News / Sports
Florida Gators Fight Their Way to Elite Eight with Victory Over Butler
Once again the number one seeded Florida Gators got off to a slow start but fought their way back to beat the number five seeded Butler Bulldogs 65-67 and advance to the Elite Eight.
Florida fell behind 25-16 after missing 8 of their first 14 shots but worked their way back into the game with six straight free-throws and back to back three-pointers from Corey Brewer and Taurean Green. Green’s triple put the Gators in front 30-29 with 2:09 left in the first half. He added another three-pointer with 3 seconds left in the half to cap a 13-0 run and went to their locker room with a 35-29 lead.
Butler came out in the second half and scored the first seven points to grab a one point advantage. A.J. Graves pushed the lead to four with a three-pointer five and a half minutes into the half but Brewer hit a pair of free-throws and Lee Humphrey hit a three-pointer to put the Gators back in front.
Drew Streicher hit two free-throws with 3:33 left on the clock to give Butler a 54-53 lead and it looked as if the Gators might get tripped up by the smaller Bulldogs. Unfortunately for Butler they could only score three more points the rest of the way and Florida was able to hit six straight foul-shots in the final 34 seconds to secure the win.
Green led the Gators with 17 points while Al Horford added 16 points 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Joakim Noah finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds to keep Florida’s hopes of repeating as national champions alive.
