The No. 4 seed Michigan Wolverines dominated the No. 3 seed Florida Gators and advanced to Atlanta for the Final Four in the NCAA tournament in the South Region Sunday afternoon, 79-59.
Although Florida was one of the statistically best defenses this season, the Gators had no answer for Michigan's offense. The Wolverines began this game on a 13-0 run as freshman center Mitch McGary got off to a quick start, scoring eight of the Wolverines' first 13 points.
Florida did a decent job of slowing down Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr., holding the two Michigan guards to a combined 8-29 from the floor. The problem for the Gators came once freshman guard Nik Stauskas began to find his range. Stauskas hit all of five of his 3-point attempts in the first half, and he finished the game 6-6 from the 3-point line.
Following back-to-back Stauskas 3-pointers the Wolverines led 41-17 with four minutes to go in the first half. Florida then went on an 11-2 run and followed it up by starting the second half with six unanswered points to cut the lead down to 47-36. However, this was the closest the Gators would get for the rest of the game. Michigan steadily rebuilt its lead throughout the second half.
Stauskas led the Wolverines with 22 points on 7-8 from the floor and 6-6 from behind the arc. Burke added 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while McGary contributed 11 points and nine rebounds.
Kenny Boynton and Will Yeguete had 13 points each for the Gators. Although the Gators shot 41.1 percent from the floor they only hit two 3-pointers and were outscored by 24 points from long range.
Michigan will face No. 4 seed Syracuse in the Final Four on Saturday. The time for the game is still to be determined. Syracuse advanced to the Final Four after knocking off No. 3 seed Marquette on Saturday, 55-39.
For more information, visit www.NCAA.com.
Comments