It is traditional for winning teams to cut down the nets after capturing a regional round of the N.C.A.A. tournament, but they do not often start as early as Florida did Sunday when it defeated Oregon, 85-77, to advance to the Final Four.
The twine removal accidentally began with 9 minutes 9 seconds remaining in the first half after the Gators’ Lee Humphrey made one of his seven 3-pointers while leading his team with 23 points.
As the ball passed through the net, it pulled some of the string away from the rim. “A faulty net or something,” Humphrey said later. After everyone did double-takes, the officials stopped the game for about 10 minutes and the net was replaced by a man on a stepladder.
This merely delayed the inevitable, although Oregon battled the defending champions until the end. The Ducks led in the first half by 5 points, trailed by 2 at intermission, tied the score early in the second half and cut the Florida lead to 4 twice in the final minute.
But they could not overcome the edge in experience, height and talent of the Gators, who will try to become the first team since Duke in 1992 to repeat as national champions. Florida will play U.C.L.A. in one of Saturday’s two semifinals in Atlanta.
“Happy but not satisfied!” Joakim Noah, Florida’s 6-foot-11 center, shouted, pulling a bloody bandage from his left elbow as he and his teammates mounted a ladder one by one for the official and ritualistic snipping of the nets.
Joakim Noah wore a cap backward, his bushy hair tied back in a big ponytail. He kept turning around, eyes flashing, pivoting 360 degrees, the way he did in the low post as he led his team with 14 rebounds and contributed 14 points.
“So many people hating us, so many people doubting us,” Joakim Noah said. “People have been trying to divide us all year. The Gator boys are back in the Final Four. Everybody wants to shine but, unfortunately, not everybody’s a Gator boy!”
Joakim Noah then loped past the band, which was playing “We Are the Boys,” first in waltz tempo, then in a faster tempo. He shook a few of the musicians’ hands and joined his teammate Corey Brewer in the grandstand to hug fans. They moved their arms up and down in the Gator chomp.
Brewer also scored 14 points and Taurean Green had 21. Aaron Brooks led the Ducks with 27 and Malik Hairston had 18. Oregon’s third-leading scorer was Tajuan Porter with 10, but Porter was as important for what he did not accomplish.
After scoring 33 points, including 24 on eight 3-pointers, in Friday’s semifinal victory against Nevada-Las Vegas, Porter, a 5-6 freshman from Detroit, made only 2 of 12 from the field Sunday, including 2 of 10 from outside the arc.
His two successes were in the final minute. Brooks, Porter’s partner in the guard tandem, said he told Porter to keep his head up. “He was down about the game,” Brooks said. “He’s a key part of the reason why we’re here.”
Brooks said Porter needed support because “this one game can really affect him in a negative way.” Ernie Kent, the Oregon coach, suggested that Porter “might have shot himself out in the first game” but that he was open Sunday.
“So he missed some shots,” Kent said. “He felt bad. We told him in that locker room: ‘Don’t even worry about it. Use it as a learning experience.’ He’s going to set or break a lot of records before he leaves the University of Oregon.”
Most of Porter’s shots hit the back of the rim, although one missed the basket entirely, late in the game. He was matched on offense and defense against Humphrey for some of the game. “I wasn’t nervous,” Porter said. “I was just a little too hyped.”
Porter said he was not intimidated by Florida’s size. “I’ve been hitting shots over bigger players my whole life — and in this tournament,” Porter said. “Everybody has an off day.”
Kent, asked what he would do differently next time he reached the Round of 8, replied, “Bring bigger guys to the battle.”
The height and skill of Joakim Noah and the 6-10 Al Horford were difficult for the Ducks to counter. The Gators had a 39-24 edge in rebounds.
When the Ducks tried to battle for position under the glass, they had to foul. Officials called 30 fouls on Oregon, 14 on Florida. The Gators made 28 of 43 free throws; the Ducks made 15 of 16. Florida led in blocked shots, 5-2.
Three Ducks fouled out — Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Joevan Catron. Florida, the top seed in the Midwest and the first seed over all, improved to 33-5. Oregon, seeded third in this region, fell to 29-8.
And what about the defensive attitude that the Florida players and Coach Billy Donovan seem to be cultivating about how people do not like the Gators? Joakim Noah often used the word “hate,” and Brewer said people usually cheer for the underdog, the way he used to when he was a fan.
“Everybody kind of wants us to lose,” Brewer said. Green added that Joakim Noah “ hates when other people hate on us.”
“And we use this as energy ourselves,” he added. “We thrive off of that. Nobody will be rooting for us.”
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