SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors once relied upon a deep bench and contributions from up and down the lineup to win championships.
On Thursday night, No. 1 Florida, coached by former USF coach and Saint Mary’s guard Todd Golden, took a page out of the Dubs’ book in the Sweet 16. Facing off against No. 4 Maryland in the opening round of the West Regional in San Francisco, the Gators pounded Maryland with waves of talented players in an 87-71 win.
The Terrapins, led by their vaunted “Crab Five” starting lineup, gave it a go for about 30 minutes. But in the end, math won out.
The results tilted more and more in Florida’s favor as Maryland’s starters wore out, and the Gators separated down the stretch to win going away — and advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday.
Florida (33-4) took a 65-54 lead with 10:03 to play on Alijah Martin’s layup and led by double digits the rest of the way.
The Gators kept the pedal down from there, peaking with an 18-point advantage multiple times.
Florida was making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017, while Maryland (27-9) had not reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2016.
After taking a two-point lead into the half, Florida put the clamps on the Crab Five early in the second half and took control of the game. Maryland, which had rallied from a 10-point deficit early in the first half, had no answers this time around.
Both teams took a minute – or the better part of the first 10 – to settle into the environment at Cnase Center.
But once they did, it was a fairly even first half. Maryland, which trailed 20-9 midway through the first half, stumbled out of its early stupor and went on a 7-0 run to get back in the game.
The Terrapins took a 28-27 lead on Derik Queen’s free throw with 5:49 left in the half, and it was game on from there.
They were aided by Florida’s 13 first-half turnovers and an injury on the other side of the floor. Florida had lost all-SEC starting forward Alex Condon to an apparent ankle injury with 12:15 left in the first half and stayed off the floor through halftime.
Condon came out for warmups in the second half and reentered the game at the 13:29 mark after extensive testing of his ankle on Florida’s tunnel area. He promptly turned the ball over on his first possession back in the game.
The Gators struggled without Condon to end the half, committing 11 fouls and enabling Maryland to get back into the game by driving repeatedly to the rim.
Yet even in his absence, Florida stepped up early in the second half. The Gators pushed the two-point halftime lead to 10 points and led 55-49 when Condon reentered the game.
That was the closest Maryland got the rest of the way as Florida dominated the glass, outrebounding the Terps 42-20.
The Crab Five starting lineup, which had handled most of the scoring for Maryland all season, largely did its job. Queen had 27 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 17, Julian Reese added 12 and Rodney Rice chipped in 10.
But Selton Miguel, the fifth member of the starting quintet, was held scoreless. So was the rest of Maryland’s roster.
The Terps only played two bench players before the game was out of reach, De’Shawn Harris-Smith and Jordan Geremino, and they were on the floor for a combined 28 minutes. Maryland scored just three bench points.
Reese and Rice were visibly tired last in the second half, bending over and gasping for breath during multiple breaks in the action.
Florida, meanwhile, received scoring contributions from up and down the lineup. Eight Gators got on the scoresheet: Will Richard (15 points), Martin (14), Walter Clayton Jr. (13 points), Denzel Aberdeen (12), Thomas Haugh (12), Ruebe Chinyelu (10), Condon (6) and Micah Handlogten (2).
Florida will face the winner of Arkansas and Texas Tech, the late game on Thursday night in San Francisco. Results from that game were not finalized when Bay Area News Group went to print.
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