Final Four – National Semifinals: Cinderella’s run is officially over. No. 3 Florida knocked off No. 11 George Mason 73-58 in the first game of the Final Four, ending the Patriots’ miraculous surge into the national semifinals. George Mason could not hit on long shots or layups with any regularity, two elements of the game that the Patriots had excelled at while beating the likes of No. 1 Connecticut, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 6 Michigan State.
Lee Humphrey was deadly for Florida, opening the second half with three consecutive three-pointers to stretch a five-point halftime lead to 14. As a team, Florida hit 12 three-pointers, the most in Final Four history. Corey Brewer also was solid for the Gators, tying Humphrey with 19 points to lead all scorers. Jai Lewis and Tony Skinn led the Patriots with 13 points apiece. Skinn hit the first three-pointer of the game for George Mason with less than four minutes remaining. Florida dominated the boards, exemplified in the final three minutes when the Gators grabbed three offensive rebounds to drain the clock from 2:30 to just more than 30 seconds.
The second game of the national semifinals was equally lopsided as No. 2 UCLA dominated No. 4 LSU 59-45, holding yet another NCAA Tournament opponent to less than 60 points. The Bruins also held No. 1 Memphis to 45 points in the Oakland regional final. With suffocating defense against LSU’s big, talented forwards, the Bruins needed only a modicum of offensive efficiency to bury the poor-shooting Tigers. But by shooting 58 percent from the field in the first half, the Bruins were well on their way to a route by halftime, leading 39-24.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute led UCLA with 17 points and was the only Bruin to play 30 minutes. Coach Ben Howland substituted regularly to keep his players fresh and wear down Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tyrus Thomas. LSU’s stars combined to score only 19 points. The Bruins were also successful in limiting LSU’s second-chance opportunities, out-rebounding the Tigers by seven. Once LSU fell behind, the Tigers had little hope of recovering because three-point shooting has never been the team’s strong suit this season. And the Tigers failed to connect on any of their six three-point attempts. [4/02/06]
