Sunday, April 02, 2000
Florida 71, North Carolina 59
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIANAPOLIS — Ed Cota was a spectator for the last several minutes of his four years as North Carolina's point guard, even though he played. He sat back on the heels of his shoes and watched Florida's merciless Gators chase his team home from the Final Four.
Cota picked up his fourth foul with 13:18 left in the game and his team ahead four points. Coach Bill Guthridge allowed him to remain to keep the Tar Heels' offense stabilized, and Florida terrorized Cota all the way to the end of a 71-59 victory Saturday at the RCA Dome that put them in the NCAA championship game against Michigan State.
“They started getting tired,” said Florida forward Mike Miller, “and when Cota picked up his fourth foul, he started to play passive. That really helped us out.”
In the three games that led the Gators (29-7) to their first title game, they defeated teams with a combined seven championships in their history. With seven freshmen and sophomores among the 10 players in their rotation, perhaps they are too young to be respectful of college basketball's royalty.
They surely were not kind to their elder, Cota, a senior who joined former teammate Sham mond Williams as the only players to reach three Final Fours without playing in the championship game.
The Gators trailed by as many as six in the second half, but the game turned heavily in their favor when Cota became lost behind a screen, received no help from his teammates and ran into Florida guard Brett Nelson while trying to scramble back into the play.
Nelson went after him immediately and nailed a jumper to make it 50-48. In fact, 12 of Florida's next 16 points were scored directly against Cota, which boosted the Gators to a 62-54 lead. Carolina (22-14) never again got closer than a six-point deficit. Nelson finished with 13 points and four assists and turned over the ball just once.
“My approach to the game was definitely different. I wasn't aggressive any more,” Cota said. “I was giving my guy open shots, because I didn't want to pick up my fifth foul. They did a good job keeping the pressure on.”
The Carolina offense was penalized, also. With Cota afraid to strike, the Tar Heels were dreadful against Florida's pressure defense and unable to generate a consistent halfcourt attack.
Center Brendan Haywood, who scored 20 points, got only four after halftime. Guard Joseph Forte, who scored 15, was done after a 3-pointer with 10:12 left.
“I think they just wore us out,” Guthridge said. “I hoped them playing 10 players would not be a factor, but it was.”
The Tar Heels played the first few minutes reasonably well, escaping Florida's pressure defense with two turn overs in their first seven trips and getting one free throw and a dunk from Haywood.
Then Carolina lost the ball on a steal, Florida's Kenyan Weeks popped open and popped in a 3-pointer, and suddenly the Gators had an 8-3 lead. When they scored, they scored quickly.
The Tar Heels were down 18-3 before Guthridge relented and called timeout. While he waited, Nelson scored five points and assisted on two other scores.
Had this game been played anytime between Nov. 22 and March 10, the length of the Heels' regular season, that would have been enough. They were not much then for fighting out of deficits, or fighting, period.
This time, they recovered with a furious effort. The Tar Heels outscored Florida 31-19 over the remaining 11:45 before halftime, with Haywood producing 13 of their points. They trailed by only three at the break.
The shocking aspect of North Carolina's first half was its inability to take advantage of the obvious mismatch between Forte and 5-10 Florida guard Teddy Dupay. Forte enjoyed a six-inch height advantage, but he did not enjoy it much until the final 20 minutes.
In the first half, Forte missed all five of his field goal attempts and scored two points. He scored his first basket with 17:36 left to tie the game at 40-all.
Forte scored on each of the next three UNC possessions, nailing 3-point goals on two of those, which put the Tar Heels in a 48-42 lead. They turned the ball just about every way possible during the next five minutes, though, including a shot-clock violation, an offensive foul, a steal and a 10-second count. When Nelson followed a 3-pointer by Major Parker with a jumper in the lane, the Gators led, 55-50.
“If we get down 10-12 points in any game, that's not a big thing,” Nelson said. “It's our style of play. Never give up, keep playing. We can get a steal, knock down a three, and we're right back in the game.”
Associated Press Final Four Coverage: Men's •
Women's
Florida vs. Mich St.: Opposites attract
Michigan State 53, Wisconsin 41
A happy end to Badger boredom
NORTH CAROLINA (59)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Lang 25 2-4 0-0 1-4 0 1 4
Capel 35 4-13 0-0 2-10 2 5 9
Haywood 34 6-7 8-14 7-12 1 4 20
Forte 36 5-16 2-4 0-5 2 5 15
Cota 38 2-8 4-4 2-8 8 4 9
Peppers 16 1-3 0-1 1-2 0 1 2
Owens 8 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Newby 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Brooker 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Melendez 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Holmes 1 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Everett 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
White 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Laczkowski 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-57 14-23 13-41 13 22 59
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.351, FT-.609. 3-Point Goals:
5-22, .227 (Capel 1-4, Forte 3-10, Cota 1-5,
Owens 0-1, Brooker 0-1, Holmes 0-1). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 5 (Haywood 3, Capel,
Forte). Turnovers: 17 (Capel 5, Haywood 5, Cota
4, Forte, Lang, Peppers). Steals: 3 (Cota 2,
Capel).
FLORIDA (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Wright 20 1-3 2-4 3-7 2 3 5
Miller 29 3-13 4-6 4-7 1 1 10
Haslem 20 5-7 0-0 2-5 0 4 10
Hamilton 18 2-5 0-0 2-3 3 2 5
Dupay 26 1-8 2-2 0-2 0 2 4
Harvey 20 2-7 4-5 2-7 1 4 8
Bonner 14 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 3 4
Nelson 22 5-10 1-2 0-6 4 2 13
Weaks 18 2-5 1-4 0-1 1 1 6
Parker 13 2-3 0-0 0-3 1 1 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 25-64 14-23 14-43 13 23 71
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.391, FT-.609. 3-Point Goals:
7-28, .250 (Wright 1-1, Miller 0-6, Hamilton 1-2,
Dupay 0-6, Nelson 2-6, Weaks 1-4, Parker 2-3).
Team rebounds: None. Blocked shots: 2 (Harvey 2).
Turnovers: 10 (Haslem 3, Dupay 2, Bonner,
Hamilton, Harvey, Nelson, Parker). Steals: 9
(Weaks 2, Bonner, Dupay, Hamilton, Harvey,
Miller, Parker, Wright).
__________________________________
North Carolina 34 25 - 59
Florida 37 34 - 71
__________________________________
Technical fouls: North Carolina 2 (Forte,
Peppers). Florida 1 (Parker). A: 43,116.
Officials: Jody Silvester, Donnie Gray, John
Cahill.
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