Indianapolis, IN (Basketball News) - Joakim Noah led the way with 16 points, nine rebounds and a record six blocked shots, as the Florida Gators captured their first NCAA Tournament title in school history with a 73-57 victory over the UCLA Bruins in the championship game at the RCA Dome.
Florida’s only other appearance in an NCAA final was in 2000 when the school lost to Michigan State. However, the program hit its high point six years later under the guidance of Billy Donovan, who at 40-years-old became the second-youngest active coach to win a national crown. Bobby Knight won the title at age 35.
"It’s undescribable. This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life," said Noah, who was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. "You work so hard for these moments. They’re so worth it. We worked so hard as a team. So many sweat, tears, sacrifices to get to moments like this."
Lee Humphrey added 15 points, Al Horford had 14 and Corey Brewer scored 11 for Florida (33-6), winners of the SEC Tournament who won their final 11 games. The Gators beat South Alabama, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Georgetown, Villanova and George Mason on the way to the final.
"My whole thing was get to the rims, layups, dunks and Lee Humphrey in transition," Donovan said. "If you get a layup, dunk in transition, or if Lee Humphrey can let one go from the three-point, that’s what we’re looking for immediately. To me the guy that orchestrated everything tonight, didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, didn’t make a three-pointer, Taurean (Green) ran our team."
Jordan Farmer scored 18 for the Bruins (32-7), who came into Monday with the nation’s longest winning streak at 12 games, but failed in their bid for a record 12th title. The Bruins fell to 11-2 in championship games, with their only other defeat coming in 1980 to Louisville. Their last title came in 1995 with a win over Arkansas.
"They did a great job at both ends of the floor," Farmar said. "They left us relying on dribble penetration. Once we got in there, it either was a blocked shot. They changed a lot of shots. That’s just what their two bigs bring to the table."
When the Gators reached 45 points on a three-pointer by Brewer with 16:07 remaining, the Bruins knew it would be a difficult uphill climb. UCLA, which was behind 45-27 at the time, had given up 45 points in each of its last two games in the tournament, a five-point win over Memphis to get to the Final Four and a 14-point triumph over LSU to reach the championship game.
"Their defense was terrific," UCLA head coach Ben Howland said of the Gators. "They did a great job defensively. We got sped up. We got a little hurried. We had opportunities to actually come into the paint and stop, but we were moving too fast."
Two straight three-pointers by Arron Afflalo had the Bruins within 57-43 with 8:47 left, but Noah, who ended with a record for blocks in a championship game, came right back down the floor and jammed.
UCLA managed to cut its deficit to 12 points a few times, the last at 65-53 following a bucket from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, but Humphrey came back with the dagger, a three-pointer from the right wing with 2:06 left.
Florida played superb ball control offense with 21 assists to just six turnovers.
An 8-2 run by Florida opened a 25-15 lead. Bruins center Lorenzo Mata picked up his third foul with eight minutes left in the half with UCLA behind 27-17. The Bruins had a hard time scoring inside, and outside for that matter, shooting 29.6 percent to 44.4 percent for the Gators in the first 20 minutes.
UCLA turned the ball over eight times in the first half.
The Gators led 36-25 at the break and stretched that advantage to 20 just over six minutes into the second half on a bucket by Chris Richard, moving the score to 49-29.
