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BOX SCORE
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Florida coach Billy Donovan thought his
Gators had run out of energy. They found just enough to beat
another higher-seeded team and advance to the Final Four.
With seven sophomores and freshmen in the 10-man rotation, the
fifth-seeded Gators beat third-seeded Oklahoma State and its seven
seniors 77-65 Sunday in the East Regional final.
"With eight minutes left we were running on empty," Donovan
said. "The last eight minutes we had to grind it out with them. I
think they were exhausted and we were, too."
|  | | Mike Miller's 14 points led Florida's balanced attack. |
Led by the 34-year-old Donovan, the Gators will play resurgent
North Carolina, which beat Tulsa 59-55 in the South Regional final,
on Saturday in Indianapolis. Wisconsin, like North Carolina an
eighth seed, will play Michigan State, the only No. 1 seed left, in
the other semifinal.
"We're not going to play North Carolina differently than any
other game," said Kenyan Weaks, the team's only senior.
The Gators' only other trip to the Final Four was in 1994, when
most of the current players were in grade school and Donovan was
about to become the youngest head coach in Division I at Marshall.
Using the same press that wore down fourth-seeded Illinois in
the second round and top-seeded Duke in the regional semifinals.
Florida (28-7) forced Oklahoma State (27-7) into turnovers and also
wore the Cowboys down, especially point guard Doug Gottlieb, who
looked exhausted in the first half from trying to constantly beat
the pressure.
"I was really concerned, not with the mental part because we
handled the Duke win well that way, but physically if we could play
our style after spending so much energy against Duke," Donovan
said. "The first five or six minutes I could see Oklahoma State
was winded and tired, too."
A 10-0 run gave the Gators a 33-18 lead with 9:39 left in the
first half and they were up 43-31 at halftime.
Twice in the second half Oklahoma State, which starts four
seniors but was facing its first single-digit seed in the
tournament, came up with runs to make it close, but the Gators
didn't fold.
Desmond Mason and Glendon Alexander hit 3-pointers in a 9-0 run
that brought the Cowboys within 50-42 with 14:12 left, but Donovan
called a timeout, changed all five players, and the lead was back
to 54-42 after Oklahoma State turned the ball over on three
consecutive possessions.
Alexander hit another 3 to cap a 7-0 that made it 56-53 with
7:56 left, but Florida scored the next seven points. Mike Miller
scored the last five, making two free throws, grabbing the rebound
on a missed jumper by Oklahoma State then burying a 3-pointer with
6:16 left to make it 63-53.
The closest the Cowboys got the rest of the way was eight
points.
"We had a lot of chances to back in but we didn't take
advantage of them and missed some easy shots," Mason said.
Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said he had to rest Gottlieb
because he thought his point guard was fatigued.
"I thought we looked to be in a daze early," Sutton said.
"The press didn't bother as much I thought as it speeded us up and
we didn't do a good job of controlling the tempo."
Miller led Florida with 14 points, and Udonis Haslem and Donnell
Harvey added 10 each.
Fredrik Jonzen had 14 points for the Cowboys, while Alexander
added 13 and Joe Adkins 12, eight in the final minute.
Miller, selected the regional's MVP, won the opening-round game
over 12th-seeded Butler with a game-winning drive at the buzzer in
overtime, the Gators' only close game of the four in the regional.
"I don't know there's been so much difference," Miller said of
the team since the opening-round win. "We felt we lived to see
another day and we're going to Indianapolis with the same
mindset."
The most impressive of the wins was the 87-78 victory over Duke
in the semifinals, the school's first win ever over a top-ranked
team.
"We didn't have much gas today after the Duke game, but we
found a way," Donovan said. "I'm not worried about that (Final
Four) right now. I want to celebrate this for a little bit with
these kids. The last 48 hours for us has been an emotional
roller-coaster ride, from playing Duke to having to play Oklahoma
State. These guys, to their credit being so young really remained
very, very focused and didn't get caught in the moment of Duke."
The Gators looked fresher than the Cowboys in the first half.
Miller had a great spin move that led to a left-handed layup midway
through and freshman Brett Nelson drew some cheers from the crowd
of 30,388 at the Carrier Dome with an around-the-waist move as he
went in ahead of the field for a layup.
Donovan, who played in the Final Four with Providence in 1987,
will join Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Vic Bubas, Dick Harp and Bones
McKinney as the only men to coach and play in the national
semifinals.
"When you're young you're selfish, you're worried about you,"
Donovan said. "As you get older the thing that makes this special
is I got to share it with the people who matter to me and got a
chance to see what it means to these kids."
Sutton was looking for his third Final Four appearance. He led
Arkansas there in 1978 and Oklahoma State in 1995.
"After the game I thanked Coach for the three best years of my
life," Gottlieb said. "Every player dreams of getting to play
four games in the NCAA Tournament. A fifth would have been great."
Oklahoma State finished with 17 turnovers after committing just
33 in the first three tournament games, including only six in the
semifinal win over 10th-seeded Seton Hall.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Florida NCAA Team Report
Oklahoma State NCAA Team Report
Chat: NCAA Tourney
Billy's kids pass ultimate test
Gottlieb points to shooting for Cowboys' loss
Tar Heels step past Tulsa into Final Four
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Miller and the Gators "live to see another day."
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Billy Donovan wanted to apply pressure on the tired Cowboys.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Eddie Sutton's Cowboys couldn't get over the hump.
wav: 86 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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