News / Sports
Florida Gators Repeat as National Champions After Beating Ohio State
The overall number one seed in the NCAA Tournament proved the selection committee right on Monday night as the Florida Gators took care of the Ohio State Buckeyes 84-75 to win their second straight national championship. In so doing, the Gators became the first school to ever repeat with the same starting five that had won it all the previous year.
Florida was just too much for the Buckeyes to handle and the Gators appeared to hit everything from the field while Ohio State struggled from the perimeter. The sharp-shooting trio of Lee Humphrey, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green combined to hit 10-18 from beyond the three-point arc while Ohio State hit just 4-23 from that distance.
While freshmen Greg Oden and Mikke Conley Jr. had strong performances for Ohio State, the rest of the Buckeyes could never get comfortable against the aggressive Gators. Oden finished with 25 points on 10-15 shooting and 11 rebounds while Conley added 20 points on 7-13 shooting and 6 assists but the rest of the team was a combined 13-37 from the floor.
Ohio State never really threatened the Gators despite cutting Florida’s 13-point second half lead down to seven with 4:37 left in the game. The experience that Florida carried over from a year ago seemed to pay off as they remained calm and never tried to force a bucket.
Al Horford finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Gators while Green added 16 and 6 assists.
