Florida Got One Last Look

When Eddie Shannon missed his last-second shot, a decent 15-footer from the right wing, he collapsed on the floor in despair.

The Bulldogs could easily envision themselves in that position because there was plenty of time for Florida to score, more than 4 seconds, after Casey Calvary’s tip-in provided what became the final points.

“I looked at the clock and saw 4.4 seconds and that little guy did an unbelievable job of not panicking,” GU assistant Mark Few said. “I thought his shot was in, and it made my heart sink.

“He dribbled it off his leg, got it off his back, weaved around, did a great job of hanging with (the play).”

Shannon wasn’t unhappy with the shot he got, just the result.

“I was high enough in the air to get a good look at the basket,” he said. “I put it up, it’s a tough one to make it when you rush it, but actually I thought it was a good look.”

The Gators had a timeout left and coach Billy Donovan was trying to use it, but he wasn’t disappointed it got wasted.

“We probably got as good of shot as any we would have set up,” he said.

Off their mark

Florida came into the NCAA Tournament averaging 9.43 3-pointers a game, fourth in the country. And the Gators had 264 3-pointers in 695 attempts for a 38 percent success rate for 28 games.

In their Sweet 16 game with Gonzaga, the Gators’ stroke wasn’t so sweet.

Florida missed its first eight 3-pointers and was 1 of 11 in the first half. The Gators finished 6 of 24.

Florida’s biggest 3 was by Greg Stolt. His shot from the right wing with 45.7 seconds left gave the Gators their biggest lead of the game at 72-69.

“They played defense against the 3-pointer pretty well,” he said after his 4-of-7 night from beyond the arc led to his 16 points. “They scouted us pretty well. They knew it was a big part of our offense. I don’t think we ran the offense the best we could.”