Florida advances as Flyers fall to earth

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- First yet again this season, the Florida Gators want more. Much more.

Try a national championship.

Scottie Wilbekin scored 23 points and Florida became the first team to advance to the Final Four with a 62-52 win Saturday night over the 11th-seeded Dayton Flyers in the South Regional final.

The Gators reached their fifth Final Four after losing at this point in each of the last three NCAA tournaments. This time, they came in as the country’s top-ranked team and the overall No. 1 seed.

Florida won its 30th straight game and improved to 36-2, topping the 35 wins by the 2007 national championship squad.

“I couldn’t be prouder and happier,” Florida Coach Billy Donovan said after being drenched with water in the Gators’ locker room.

“In a lot of ways, outside the Michigan game, we were close to being in three out of four Final Fours right now, and that says a lot about these guys. But I think those experiences maybe helped us be a better team this year than maybe we would have if we’d have gotten to a couple of ones earlier.”

Patric Young scored 12 points, and Michael Frazier II added 10 for Florida. The Gators will play either Connecticut or Michigan State in Arlington, Texas, in the national semifinal.

The celebration was a bit muted because a regional title isn’t the Gators’ end goal.

“There’s more hunger within us, within this whole team to keep going,” Young said.

Dyshawn Pierre led the Flyers with 18 points, including the final 11 for Dayton (26-11). Devin Oliver added 12 points.

Dayton came in trying to become only the fourth 11th-seeded team to advance to the Final Four. The Flyers had upset Ohio State and Syracuse in reaching their first regional final since 1984. They missed their second Final Four and first since 1967 as Florida held them to their lowest scoring game this season.

Coach Archie Miller complimented the Gators, saying that just being on the floor with Florida gave Dayton a “big-time feeling.”

“It’s always hard to lose the last game of the season, but in the back of my mind, I’m not sure a team in the nation captured more people’s hearts than these guys did, and they did it the right way,” Miller said.