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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Scottie Wilbekin, left, drives past Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright during the first half of Florida’s 63-52 loss to UConn on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Wilbekin scored four points while recording one assist to three turnovers against the Huskies.</p>

Scottie Wilbekin, left, drives past Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright during the first half of Florida’s 63-52 loss to UConn on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Wilbekin scored four points while recording one assist to three turnovers against the Huskies.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Scottie Wilbekin had every reason to perform well Saturday against UConn.

The senior point guard was competing in his first and last Final Four, playing against a familiar foe and – as the proverbial cherry on top – celebrating his 21st birthday on the most important day of basketball in his life.

So when Wilbekin had arguably his worst game of the season Saturday night, Gators fans were left scratching their heads all the way back to Gainesville.

Coach Billy Donovan said the reason why his team’s MVP was limited to just four points on 2-of-9 shooting was because he could not penetrate the Huskies’ defense in the paint.

Because Wilbekin could not drive to the basket as he had all season, he not only couldn’t be a factor scoring-wise for the Gators, but he also could not dish the ball back out to the perimeter to give his teammates open looks. The 6-foot-2 Gainesville native had just one assist compared to three turnovers.

“The difference in the game was Scottie Wilbekin couldn’t live in the lane like he had all year long for us,” Donovan said. “Every time we needed a big shot or a big play, whether against Arkansas or UCLA, he was in the lane.”

Only one of Wilbekin’s two baskets came in the paint, and neither came in the second half when Florida desperately needed a spark to overcome UConn’s 12-point advantage, which was the Gators’ largest deficit of the season.

Although he said cramps bothered him at the start of the second half, Wilbekin said once he exited the game and iced his legs, the cramps went away and were no longer an issue.

However, UConn guards Ryan Boatwright and Shabazz Napier were problems Wilbekin couldn’t fix with a few minutes on the bench. After allowing Wilbekin to score on his first two shot attempts, Boatright and Napier buckled down defensively, holding the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year to a 0-of-7 shooting performance – including 0 of 3 from three-point range.

“He had a really, really hard time getting in the lane around Boatright,” Donovan said. “He had a hard time getting around Napier, which inevitably made our offense very, very difficult.

“I would say this, there’s not many guards that we have played against that have kept Scottie Wilbekin out of the lane. These guys kept him out of the lane.”

The Huskies not only kept the pressure on Wilbekin the entire game, but they also forced the rest of the Gators to make errant shots and passes as well.

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Florida’s three assists were not just a season low. It was also the fewest in a Final Four game since assists became an official stat in 1983-1984.

And two of its three assists came on the first two baskets of the game. For the final 38:43, the Huskies held the Gators to just one assist while forcing 11 turnovers.

“That’s crazy,” Wilbekin said. “That’s not usually what we do. All credit goes to them and their guards and the way they were denying and putting pressure on us. We weren’t taking care of the ball.”

Despite Wilbekin’s poor performance in his last collegiate contest, Donovan doesn’t want Saturday’s game to be a defining moment of the senior’s career. In his four years at Florida, Wilbekin has battled through off-the-court issues to help his team reach the Elite Eight four seasons in a row, which culminated in the senior’s first Final Four appearance Saturday night.

“We would not be in this situation if it was not for Scottie Wilbekin,” Donovan said during the post-game press conference. “You just never want to see a guy in his senior year do all things that he’s done, you just wish he could have played and performed a little bit better for us. But if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be sitting up here right now.”

Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn

Scottie Wilbekin, left, drives past Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright during the first half of Florida’s 63-52 loss to UConn on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Wilbekin scored four points while recording one assist to three turnovers against the Huskies.

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