MEMPHIS, Tenn. — No. 1 seed Florida’s defense looked as stout as ever heading into halftime against No. 11 seed Dayton on Saturday.
In the six minutes before intermission in FedExForum, the Gators limited the Flyers to three points on a 1-of-7 clip from the field. In that same time period, UF scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, with nine coming from senior Scottie Wilbekin.
“I think our defensive mindset is the foundation of our team,” center Patric Young said. “We just take so much pride into being able to disrupt the team and being able to lock down guys.”
But in the final 20 minutes of the Elite Eight matchup, Dayton flipped the key on Florida, posting 28 points on 50-percent shooting.
Senior forward Dyshawn Pierre was a catalyst for the Flyers in the final minutes.
“I didn’t think that we really guarded Pierre very well today in and around the basket,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought he really, really hurt [Will] Yeguete, and we hurt [Casey] Prather a lot. … There were some pick-and-roll coverages that I did not think were very good, were blown today. We need to get better there.”
Florida’s saving grace in its 62-52 win against Dayton came in the battle of the boards. UF outrebounded UD 19-11 in the final half while also winning the offensive rebound battle 8-0 in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought the game was won by the offensive rebounds,” Donovan said. “I thought we had a couple of good looks.”
Young rebounds in Elite Eight: In UF’s 79-68 win against No. 4 seed UCLA on Thursday, Patric Young was a non-factor.
The senior center scored only four points and grabbed three rebounds while racking up four personal fouls in 20 minutes of play.
“It was frustrating because I do as much as I can to try to prepare to put myself in a position to have a good game,” Young said Friday at Florida’s Elite Eight media day. “I’ve just got to flush it, learn from it, move forward.”
But Young rebounded in UF’s 62-52 Elite Eight victory against No. 11 seed Dayton, logging 12 points, six defensive rebounds, four blocks and two steals in 31 minutes.
“Whatever advantage we saw we had, [we] just keep sticking to that. Early, that was me inside,” Young said.
“Late, us rebounding on the glass helped us to solidify our win tonight. I was just glad that I could have an impact, especially down low.”
The Flyers knew they were going to have to make adjustments to their gameplay against the 6-foot-9 center.
“Once he drove, you had to think pass because you’ve got Patric Young with his big old body there, and you had to just pass the ball,” Dayton senior forward Dyshawn Pierre said. “He altered shots very well, a lot of their players.”
Notes: The Gators committed only 10 personal fouls against the Flyers on Saturday, its second-lowest total of the season (7, Pittsburgh).
No UF player committed more than two fouls in the contest. … Florida’s 14-point lead heading into halftime was its largest margin since being up by 21 in the regular season finale against Kentucky on March 8. It was UF’s largest lead after 20 minutes in a game away from the O’Connell Center since being ahead by 19 against Jacksonville on Nov. 25. … Senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin recorded double-digit point totals in eight straight games, dating back to the Gators’ March 8 matchup with the Wildcats. Since the start of the SEC tournament, the senior point guard has logged 107 points, 21 assists, 16 steals and just 7 turnovers.
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Patric Young prepares to shoot during Florida’s 62-52 win against Dayton on Saturday in FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.
