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Closer Look Cota's fourth foul enabled Gators to turn up the heat
Posted: Sunday April 02, 2000 10:10 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- It's what the Florida Gators do. They afford you a little break, make you think you can weather the storm and then -- whack! Next thing you know, you're grabbing your shorts, making stupid fouls and looking for a place to just sit down and chill for awhile. The Gators bounced into the NCAA tournament's championship game by finally putting away a talented, but thin North Carolina team on Saturday, using a crushing stretch about halfway through the second half to do the job. It was, in the end, classic Billy Ball. "Coach tells us to keep running, to never stop running," Florida's Kenyan Weaks said of coach Billy Donovan, the 34-year-old architect of maybe the most exciting brand of college basketball around. "So that's what I try to do." It was Weaks who sparked the run, which came after the Tar Heels' leader, point guard Ed Cota, committed two quick fouls less than a minute apart. North Carolina had taken a six-point lead early in the half and were leading by four points, 50-46, when Cota picked up the second of the two quickies. The foul was Cota's fourth, and it turned out to be a perfect opportunity for the Gators to get aggressive, both offensively and defensively. Weaks, a 6-foot-4 guard from North Carolina, chased down Carolina freshman Joseph Forte from behind immediately after the second Cota foul. He knocked the ball loose, recovered it on the Tar Heels' half of the floor, then found Florida's Brett Nelson for an 18-foot jumper that pulled the Gators within two points. After Forte missed a 3-pointer, the Gators' Udonis Haslem tied the score with a fast-break layup. They were the first points of a 16-4 burst that traversed about 7 1/2 minutes and wiped out any hopes the Heels had of advancing to the title game. "I think we just turned up the pressure," said Haslem. "Cota getting his fourth foul was kind of a wakeup call for us." In fact, knowing Cota could not afford to foul out of the game, forward Brent Wright said Donovan started to call plays to go at the Heels' savvy senior. "I think it made a difference," Wright said. "It took away their aggressiveness. He wasn't reaching on defense as much." After Haslem tied the score at 50, junior Major Parker nailed a 3-pointer to put Florida ahead to stay. Nelson had seven of the 16 Florida points in the run, and the Gators forced Carolina into four of its 17 turnovers in the stretch. Some Florida players -- notably point guard Teddy Dupay -- were not so quick to blame the Heels' swoon on the handcuffed Cota, who continued to play with four fouls for the rest of the game. In fact, Cota didn't come out until only 44 seconds remained and the Gators had a nine-point lead. Dupay instead credited the swarming Florida defense, which played at the very least a co-starring role in the fateful Florida run. "That's our style of play," Haslem said. "It might not wear you down in the first 15, or 20, or 25, or 30 minutes. It took us 36 minutes to wear down Duke [in the Gators' surprise win that sent them into the East regional final]. "But we'll get you." Just ask Carolina.
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