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Knockout combo Press, depth allow Gators to eliminate North Carolina
Posted: Sunday April 02, 2000 12:24 AM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- It was Billy Ball at its finest. Confuse the opponent early, wear it down late, then walk off with a victory and, in this case, a shot at a national title against Michigan State. Florida beat North Carolina 71-59 on Saturday night the same way it has been beating teams all season. Anyone who saw Kentucky win it all in 1996 with Rick Pitino -- Billy Donovan's mentor -- at the helm would have found it familiar. "I can't say we've come to expect it," Donovan said of the seeming inevitability that Florida eventually will confuse and exhaust every team it plays. "Because you never know. A team may make it all the way through." Not North Carolina. The Gators opened the game with their trademark full-court press, forcing the Tar Heels to commit five turnovers in the first eight minutes. North Carolina figured things out after falling behind 18-3. Behind the 7-foot power of Brendan Haywood and the shooting of Joe Forte, the Tar Heels climbed into the lead early in the second half. Then, the second part of Donovan's one-two combo started kicking in. The Gators, who had been freely substituting all night, still had legs. The Tar Heels could barely stand on theirs. Florida's reserves outscored North Carolina's 37-2. But as much as the points, it was the fatigue that mattered. "That's our style of play," Florida guard Brett Nelson said. "We might get down six or eight, but we never give up. We just keep playing and playing and playing. Because we know we might get a steal and hit a 3-pointer, and then, we're right back in it." True to Nelson's word, the Gators were at their best soon after they lost the lead. Behind 50-46 with 13 minutes left, the Gators held North Carolina to three field goals. Forte shot two air balls. Some of his teammates had trouble getting the ball to the rim. Spot-up jump shots turned into unconvincing floaters, a sure sign of a team starting to wear down physically. Breaking the press proved just as difficult. The Tar Heels could slice through Florida's traps by the second half, but used up too much energy doing it. Meanwhile, Florida was fresh. Coming off the bench, Nelson had seven points and two assists during a 12-3 run that put the Gators up for good. "We absorbed their blows and countered with our blows," Florida's Justin Hamilton said. "It's something we've done all year - wear teams down in the end." Fouls started plaguing both teams late, but in the true Donovan-Pitino method, it didn't hurt the Gators as much. The Florida coach could rotate big men Udonis Haslem and Donnell Harvey -- both with four fouls -- in and out. Tar Heels coach Bill Guthridge didn't have that option. Forte, Ed Cota and Jason Capel all had to play tentatively with four fouls through the better part of the final 10 minutes. Indeed, this was what Donovan had been preaching to his team all season and to everyone else all this week. The system, he insisted, would win out when the Final Four rolled around. "It's not for me to say whether we wore North Carolina out," Donovan said. "I would probably go by what they said after the game." "Fatigue was a factor," Haywood said. The scoreboard couldn't have told the story any better.
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