Florida Moves Along

After five first-weekend NCAA tournament exits, Florida returned to the Sweet 16 by routing Wisconsin Milwaukee, 82-60, Saturday at Veterans Memorial Arena.

Florida (29-6) next plays Friday night in a semifinal of the Minneapolis Regional against the winner of today’s game between second-seeded Ohio State and seventh-seeded Georgetown.

The lopsided victory ended questions about why the Gators couldn’t win their way to the tournament’s second weekend. And it started a new thought, one about why the Gators can’t take this run one weekend further than that.

“I feel like we can get to the Final Four,” forward Corey Brewer said. “I said that at the beginning of the season, and everyone was looking at us like we were stupid.”

Not anymore. The Gators shot 54% and held Wisconsin Milwaukee (22-9) to 36%. They grabbed eight more rebounds than their opponents and limited themselves to 10 turnovers.

Brewer led the charge, scoring 23 points in 23 minutes despite foul trouble and a fall on his head midway through the first half.

The Gators also got 13 points from forward Al Horford and 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four blocks from Joakim Noah, their 7-foot center.

Noah’s dominance showed most in Florida’s final four possessions of the first half. He fed Adrian Moss and Chris Richard for layups, dropped a tomahawk dunk on Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Derrick Ford, then made a 16-foot jump shot when the Panthers defense sagged.

Each play thrilled the pro-Gator crowd of 13,777, which included Kevin McHale, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ vice president of basketball operations.

“You watch [Noah] on film, and maybe you think he’s a little small,” Richard said.

“So you can bang him inside, or do something with him. But you get out on the court, and he’s completely different.”

Noah’s strong play stretched into the second half, when Florida extended its edge to as much as 24 points.

“We just met an opponent that was bigger than us,” Wisconsin Milwaukee Coach Rob Jeter said. “We tried to match their size. We tried, but we just couldn’t.”