Butler's bid rejected


ST. LOUIS -- Butler's Bulldogs made memories, not college basketball history.

That's what hurts. Under four minutes left, Butler ahead by one point, and an Edward Jones Dome crowd poised to watch Florida's defending national champions go down.

Then the Gators regrouped and had enough bite to turn away a group of Bulldogs refusing to let go. Florida outscored Butler 10-1 in a closing run and pulled out a 65-57 victory Friday night in a semifinal of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

The top-seeded Gators (32-5) advance to Sunday's regional final against No. 3 seed Oregon (29-7), which beat UNLV 76-72.

No. 5 seed Butler (29-7) completed a landmark season that began in November's NIT Season Tip-off and ended with what-ifs. The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points in the first half.

"We didn't come here to give them a scare, man," Butler guard Mike Green said. "We came here to win."

The loss was every bit as painful as the last time these teams met. Florida beat Butler 69-68 in overtime in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

That the Bulldogs came so close was something of an upset in itself. Florida had an edge in virtually all categories that could be measured, but not in those that can't.

However, intangibles sometimes aren't as valuable as size and talent -- which Florida has in abundance.

"I think we played them as tough as anybody can," Butler forward Pete Campbell said. "I think we fought, we played hard, we played smart. We played Butler basketball most of the game."

In the closing moments, Florida made the plays deciding the outcome.

Drew Streicher gave Butler its last lead, 54-53, by converting both ends of a 1-and-1 with 3:33 left.

Thereafter, the Bulldogs came up short:

Brian Ligon missed a layup that would have put Butler ahead by two with three minutes left.

Al Horford, who is 6-10, backed down Butler's 6-6 Brandon Crone, who fouled out on the play. Horford's three-point play sent Florida ahead 57-54 with 2:34 left.

Green missed two free throws that could have trimmed the margin to one with 2:13 to go.

A.J. Graves, a 95 percent free throw shooter, had a rare miss. He made his first attempt, trimming the gap to 59-55. Butler controlled the rebound on his second attempt, but Green missed again on a drive to the goal with 1:07 on the clock.

Florida scored its final six points on free throws.

"I thought we gave ourselves a chance to compete and possibly win," Butler coach Todd Lickliter said. "But they made more plays down the stretch, and my hat goes off to them."

The Bulldogs were undone by a common theme -- free throws. In six of their seven defeats, opponents made 20 or more.
Florida was 23-of-28 from the foul line, Butler 10-of-13.

Florida, bidding to become the first team to repeat as NCAA champion since Duke in 1991 and '92, was as potent outside as inside. Taurean Green was 5-of-8 on 3-pointers and scored 17 points.

Horford added 16 (8-of-10 free throws), and 6-11 Joakim Noah had 13 (9-of-11 free throws).

Campbell came off the bench to lead Butler with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the arc. Green scored 12 to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Graves had all 11 of his points in the second half.

Crone scored 10 points -- all in his 10-0 run in the first half -- and was left three short of 1,000 for his career.

Butler went without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in a stretch bridging the halves.

"They have a unique style, and I think the one thing about their team that maybe goes unnoticed is they're extremely physical," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "They're as good as anybody we've played against dislodging the post and banging you off the post."

Donovan said Florida made guarding the arc a priority. Almost every Florida defender switched off on Graves at one time or another, and he had a 1-of-6 night on 3-pointers.

Graves said the Bulldogs would look more favorably on this game in a few days.

"We're not going to hang our heads because we had a game plan, we tried to execute it," he said. "When you don't finish three or four plays during the course of the game against the best team in the nation, you can't afford to do that.

"And we came up short."

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