By Rachel George, The Orlando Sentinel –
OMAHA, Neb. — This year’s NCAA Tournament might see a Cinderella team make a run into late March, but Norfolk State won’t be it.
No. 7 Florida ended the Spartans’ season on Sunday, taking an 84-50 win over the 15th seed in the West Region at the CenturyLink Center. The Gators (25-10) advanced to face No. 3 Marquette in the Sweet 16 in Phoenix on Thursday.
The Spartans end their historical season at 26-10. In their first NCAA Tournament appearance — which came after they won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament — they upset No. 2 Missouri on Friday.
But the shots that fell in the second-round game for NSU didn’t against Florida. The Gators led 47-19 at halftime as they made 53.3 percent of their shots in the first half and Norfolk State hit just 25.8 percent. Florida made 52.8 percent of its shots in the game while the Spartans made 27.3 percent.
Despite having a height disadvantage at almost every position, Florida outrebounded the Spartans 27-13 in the first half and 48-31 in the game. The plus-17 rebound margin was the Gators’ biggest of the year and came against a team that started three guards 6-foot-5 or taller.
To be sure, Kenny Boynton’s eight-rebound performance helped. But Erik Murphy also had eight and Bradley Beal led Florida with nine.
“The two ways that they beat Missouri was rebounding and loose balls,” said Boynton. “It was just a level of focus of everyone boxing out and going to attack the rim to get rebounds.”
After Norfolk State took a 6-4 lead early in the game, it went 7:13 without a point while the Gators scored 25 unanswered. They continued to extend the lead in the second half, going ahead by as many as 36 late in the game.
“I thought the whole key for us was we did a great job defensively where we rebounded the basketball,” said Florida coach Billy Donovan. “We didn’t necessarily turn them over a lot when we were pressing, but the pace got up and down and they were missing some shots.”
Boynton scored 20 points to lead five Gators scoring in double digits. The Gators’ leading scorer has struggled in recent games, totaling just 10 points in the past two while going 0-for-9 from 3-point range. He hit 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.
“I tried to do a better job recently attacking the rim,” said Boynton. “I tried to get fouled early in the game and that put me in a rhythm later in the game.”
Erving Walker had 15 points for Florida, while Beal added 14 points, Mike Rosario scored 12 off the bench and Murphy finished with 12.
Florida advanced to its seventh Sweet 16 and made it to the regional semifinal round in consecutive years for the first time since 2006 and 2007, when it won back-to-back national championships.
The Gators have made it to this round six times under Donovan. They also advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1999 and 2000.
In the history of the tournament, No. 15 seeds are 6-106 against No. 2 seeds in the round of 64. They are 0-5 in their second games after the Spartans’ loss. Lehigh, the other No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 when it upset Duke on Friday, played No. 10 Xavier later Sunday.
