Defending Men's NCAA Basketball Champion Florida Gators Return to Final Four

Oregon Can't Overcome Their Mistakes and Humphrey's Hot Hand

Quite often making the final four in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament ends up falling on the shoulders of senior leadership. The Florida Gators proved that statement to be true once again in their game against the number three seed Oregon Ducks. Lee Humphrey as a senior trying to get his team back to the final four for a chance to repeat did his job, along with significant support from the juniors on his team. Meanwhile, Oregon had been led by the hot hand of freshman Tajuan Porter in their run to the elite eight. His hand cooled off significantly, which quite often happens to freshmen in his position in that critical game to make the final four.

Senior Aaron Brooks of the Ducks tried to do his best to keep his team's final four hopes alive, but they were hurt significantly by foul trouble and Tajuan Porter's loss of accuracy. Oregon found themselves in the tough position of having four of the players with four fouls each with just over five minutes left in the game. They also were unable Porter's reversal of fortunes in the tournament as he missed his first nine shots from the field in this game, hitting his first field goal with just under a minute remaining in the game and finishing with ten points. Despite these situations Oregon gave Florida all they could handle for the first twenty three minutes of the game. The score was tied with just over seventeen minutes left in the game. That is when Lee Humphrey got hot from the field. He connected on seven 3-pointers during the game including several key ones in the five minute stretch that saw Florida open up an eight point lead with just over twelve minutes remaining. The Gators maintained that lead the majority of the remainder of the game, as they drove the Ducks into further foul trouble, winning 85-77 after spending the majority of the last five minutes shooting from the foul line.