ATLANTA, Ga. “”mdash; They promised this time it would be different.
They promised that they would compete for the entire 40 minutes.
Well, the Bruins held their side of the bargain for the first 14 minutes.
After that, the Bruins’ worst nightmare came to fruition again as the Gators (34-5) blew out the Bruins 76-66 for the second consecutive time in the NCAA Final Four.
This time it was a semifinal matchup.
“We’re very disappointed about being here for the second straight year without bringing home a championship,” coach Ben Howland said. “It was our inability to score that caused us the most problems.
“You have to shoot and do better than (we did) to beat a great team like Florida.”
The Bruins (30-6) stifled the Gators for the first eight minutes, as Florida didn’t score their first basket until there was 12:31 left in the first half.
After junior guard Taurean Green made his first 3-pointer, however, the floodgates opened.
The Gators went on a 10-0 run to open up a 26-16 first-half lead, and the Gators never trailed again.
“I thought we had their offense well-schemed,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said. “But we had a few lapses and did some different things which kind of turned the game against us.”
Against the Gators, the Bruins sorely missed its Pac-10 Player of the Year in Afflalo.
In a highly anticipated matchup with Florida junior guard Corey Brewer, Afflalo was held scoreless for the first 34 minutes and only played five minutes in the first half with three fouls.
Meanwhile, Afflalo’s counterpart, Brewer, led the Gators with a game-high 19 points.
“We knew them inside and out. We just did not go out and execute like we planned,” Afflalo said. “The fact that I couldn’t be on the floor to help my teammates was disappointing, but I committed some bad fouls, and I put my team at a disadvantage.”
With Afflalo in foul trouble, the Bruins were able to keep it close in the first half behind the superior play of sophomore forward Josh Shipp.
Shipp scored 14 first-half points on 6-of-10 shooting, but the rest of his teammates were only 3 for 19 from the field for a combined nine points.
The Bruins were 0 for 8 from behind the 3-point line and didn’t make their first 3-pointer until there was 18:43 to go in the second half.
“We have to do a better job of penetrating and creating easy opportunities,” sophomore point guard Darren Collison said. “When our shot isn’t going down, we have to stay aggressive.”
Similar to last year’s title game, the Gators on Saturday were able to take advantage of the Bruins from the inside and out.
Brewer and senior guard Lee Humphrey were the Gators’ top two shooters with 19 and 14 points, respectively, but forwards Joakim Noah, Chris Richard and Al Horford also took control of the inside, finishing with a combined 33 points and 32 rebounds.
The Gators as a team shot 53.3 percent from the field and outrebounded the Bruins 43-26. This was against the Bruins, who managed to not give up more than 55 points in a game during the entire postseason.
“That’s why their team is so scary,” sophomore center Alfred Aboya said. “They could either hit a 3-pointer, or go inside, or get an offensive rebound. It’s very frustrating.”
The Bruins, on the other hand, picked an inopportune time to have one of their worst shooting outputs of the season.
With sophomore guard Michael Roll and Collison going a combined 4 for 19 from the field, the Bruins only shot 39 percent for the game and scored a dismal 23 first-half points.
“People talk about our defense, but Florida plays extremely great defense themselves,” Howland said. “They alter and block shots and pressure the ball at the top.”
With Saturday’s game ending at around midnight local time, the Bruins are scheduled to head back to Los Angeles on a charter flight Sunday morning.
They have reason to hold their heads high, considering they were the first Bruin team in 30 years to reach the Final Four in consecutive seasons, but at the same, they know they had a chance that slipped away.
“It’s so hard to reach it in back-to-back years, and we came here determined to reach our goal,” Shipp said. “We have plenty to be proud of, but no one in here is happy coming out on the losing end.”