2011 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: Florida Advances To Elite Eight After 83-74 OT Win Over BYU

Mar 24 9:56p by Ken DeCelles

Florida withstood everything Jimmer Fredette and the BYU Cougars could throw at them, and the Gators advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2007 with an 83-74 overtime thriller. Alex Tyus had a career day for the Gators going for 19 points and 17 rebounds for the night. Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, and Chandler Parsons were in double figures as well for the night, going for 17, 16, and 16 points respectively.

Fredette scored 32 points, but had to do it on 11-29 shooting. We talked earlier about how Florida had to keep the Cougars from getting a 2nd and 3rd scorer going, and the Gators defense did that. Jackson Emery was held scoreless in the 2nd half and OT after scoring 9 in the first half. Noah Hartstock had 9 points as well, but he was held in check by Tyus, Vernon Macklin, and Patric Young for most of the night.

After being out rebounded by 2 in the first half, the Gators took care of the glass in the 2nd half and OT, and finished with a 42-39 rebounding edge led obviously by Tyus. Florida also did a fantastic job taking care of the ball in the 2nd half, turning the ball over only 5 times in the final 25 minutes.

Florida will play in their 5th Elite Eight in school history, and will play the winner of the Butler-Wisconsin played later tonight.