St. Louis – Not to say the 3-point shooting of Florida’s Lee Humphrey was hot or anything. But apparently one of Humphrey’s howitzers really did singe the net during the Gators’ 85-77 Midwest Regional final victory over third-seeded Oregon on Sunday.
At least something tore the twine. It took an Edward Jones Dome maintenance crew a full 10 minutes to fix the loop late in the first half, delaying the inevitable – a return trip to the Final Four for the defending NCAA Tournament champion.
Humphrey’s teammates never will let him hear the end of it. Junior forward Corey Brewer, pointing out that Humphrey scored a team-best 23 points without attempting a free throw, joked to reporters afterward.
“He’s shooting the nets off. Would you foul him?” Brewer said with a chuckle.
Oregon defenders rarely got close enough to slap at Humphrey. That was their choice. But the Ducks, like the nets, got burned. It’s always pick your poison time against top-seeded Florida (33-5), the first defending national champion to return all five starters since Arizona, which lost in a 1998 regional final.
While devising a game plan, Oregon coach Ernie Kent found himself in a quandary and he knew it. Thin up front, the Ducks (29-8) didn’t have enough size to contain 6-foot-11 Joakim Noah and 6-10 Al Horford without double-teaming them. To provide some help, Oregon slid over a guard, which is about all it has, and tried to sandwich the twin towers each time the ball appeared headed their way.
In one respect, Kent’s strategy of fronting Florida’s “bigs” to deny them the ball worked as intended. Horford entered the game as the Gators’ leading scorer (13.4 points per game) but went just 1-for-3 from the field and settled for six points. Noah, the outstanding player in last year’s Final Four, recorded a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds but managed only nine field-goal attempts.
Trouble was, Oregon players are not accustomed to working on the blocks and got into foul trouble. And there was nobody left to help along the perimeter. Starting guards Humphrey and junior Taurean Green combined for 44 points. Green was named the regional’s outstanding player.
“We tried to do a good job of taking away their easy looks down low,” Oregon junior Bryce Taylor said. “(But) we got burnt by Humphrey and Taurean.”
Florida reached its fourth Final Four and looks ahead to a rematch of last year’s championship game with UCLA on Saturday night in Atlanta. This wasn’t what Florida coach Billy Donovan called one of his team’s pretty victories. After Humphrey buried a 3-pointer from the left wing with 8:17 remaining, the Gators failed to score another field goal.
They didn’t have to. Florida converted free throws and Oregon couldn’t catch up after a 3-pointer by Green put Florida ahead 48-45 with 16:43 to play. Three Ducks fouled out. And 5-6 Tajuan Porter, who scored 33 points Friday against Nevada-Las Vegas, missed his first 10 shots and finished with 10 points on 2-for-12 shooting from the field.
However, Oregon didn’t go away quietly. The Gators didn’t feel comfortable enough to begin celebrating along the bench until Brewer was fouled with 1.4 seconds left.
Noah, son of tennis great Yannick, blew kisses to the Florida fans while teammates wiggled and danced. Never meeting a camera he didn’t like, Noah boasted “Final Four in the A-T-L (Atlanta)! That’s what we do. That’s what we do.”
Florida is bidding to become the first school to earn back-to-back national championships since Duke in 1991 and 1992.
“(Despite the pressure) I see them having as much fun and enjoyment this year as last year,” Donovan said. “You know what, that may be the hardest thing to do.”
OREGON (29-8)
Hairston 7-13 4-4 18, Taylor 3-6 0-0 7, Leunen 2-4 4-4 9, Brooks 11-19 2-2 27, Porter 2-12 4-4 10, Oguchi 1-3 0-0 3, Zahn 0-0 1-2 1, Schafer 1-1 0-0 2, Catron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 15-16 77.
FLORIDA (33-5)
Brewer 3-7 8-12 14, Noah 4-9 6-7 14, Horford 1-3 4-8 6, Green 5-12 7-10 21, Humphrey 8-15 0-0 23, Hodge 1-1 2-4 4, Werner 0-0 0-0 0, Richard 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 23-48 28-43 85.
Halftime – Florida 40-38. 3-point goals – Oregon 8-22 (Brooks 3-6, Porter 2-10, Leunen 1-1, Taylor 1-2, Oguchi 1-2, Hairston 0-1); Florida 11-24 (Humphrey 7-13, Green 4-8, Brewer 0-3). Fouled out – Catron, Hairston, Leunen. Rebounds – Oregon 24 (Taylor 8), Florida 39 (Noah 14). Assists – Oregon 13 (Brooks 4, Porter 4); Florida 10 (Brewer 3, Green 3). Total fouls – Oregon 30, Florida 14. A – 25,947.
Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
