JAGUARS PUT UP VALIANT EFFORT, BUT BOW OUT OF NCAA TOURNAMENT WITH 76-50 LOSS TO FLORIDA

sportsbooks NO. 14-seed South Alabama line spread put up a valiant fight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, but fell to 3rd seed Florida, 76-50 wagering spread. The Jaguars finish with one of the best records in school history at 24-7, while Florida improves to 28-6. It was the Jaguars' first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998.

Both teams came out of the gates very cold as neither team scored through the first 3:24 of the game. Florida's Lee Humphrey scored the first bucket of the game at the 16:36 mark. USA came right back with a bucket by senior Chey Christie seconds later. Florida extended the lead to 17-10 through the first 11:04, but an 8-2 run by the Jaguars cut the deficit to one with 5:49 left.

USA used back-to-back treys by junior Leandro Buboltz and a jumper by sophomore Demetric Bennett to close the deficit.

Right as the momentum was about to change to South Alabama, the ncaa Gators had the answer and went on a 10-0 run to build a 29-18 lead with 2:58 left. USA kept its poise and didn't panic as it battled back cutting the deficit to six to end the half, scoring the last five points.

The halftime statistics were pretty even as the Jaguars finished 9-of-27 from the floor and 5-of-13 from beyond the arc and 2-of-4 from the line. The six point difference in the half was Florida had three more made field goals, going 12-of-30. The Gators were 5-of-15 from beyond the arc and were 2-of-4 from the line.

Buboltz led all-scorers with 11 points at intermission. USA held a 20-19 edge in rebounds.

The Jaguars struggled out of the gates in the second half, too. The teams exchanged 3's right as the half began, but USA went scoreless for the next 3:23 until senior Mario Jointer hit a trey to cut the Florida lead back to seven with 15:39 left. Florida scored the next 14 of 20 points to go up 48-34 with 11:44 to play.

The Jaguars got as close as 12 points on a jumper by senior Michael Phillips with 9:11 to play, but the Gators proceeded to outscore the Jags 24-10 the rest of the way for a 76-50 win.

The Jaguars were 19-of-55 from the field for the game for 34.5 percent and were 9-of-20 from beyond the arc and were a season-low 3-of-6 from the line. Florida was 29-of-59 from the field and 10-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Gators were 8-of-10 from the line.

Buboltz had a team-high 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-5 from the 3-point stripe. Jointer had 10 points in his final game as a Jaguar. Florida had four players in double-figures with a game-high 20 from Lee Humphrey who had a career-high six made 3-pointers and was 7-of-8 from the floor.

7:40 AM - Apr. 3, 2006

Jax-bound Gators set sights on S. Alabama

Shortly after the Florida basketball team won the SEC tournament championship by beating South Carolina, Joakim Noah, the hero of the win, said, "We are the SEC champions, and we are definitely going in the right direction."

The direction the Gators are heading will be about an hour northeast of Gainesville, right to Jacksonville. When they get there, they will be running into an old friend.

When the NCAA tournament field was announced Sunday night, Florida was given a No. 3 seed and sent to nearby Jacksonville, the site for games to be played Thursday and Saturday.

The Gators were matched up against the University of South Alabama Jaguars, an opponent coached by John Pelphrey.

Pelphrey, now in his fourth year at South Alabama, coached at Florida for six seasons as an assistant for Florida coach Billy Donovan. He also coached with Donovan for two seasons at Marshall and played at Kentucky for Rick Pitino when Donovan was an assistant coach there.

"I am very happy for John, he's done an absolutely fantastic job with his team this season," Donovan said in a statement Sunday night. "It's always difficult playing a game at this level against such a close friend."

The 14th-seeded Jaguars are 24-6 with an 8-game win streak.

South Alabama reached the NCAA tournament by beating Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship game.

"I think the NCAA has a funny sense of humor with regards to pairing us up with Florida," Pelphrey said. "They did the same thing to my old roommate, Travis Ford, last year when he had to play Kentucky in the first round.

Ford, currently the coach at Massachusetts, was the coach at Eastern Kentucky last year. His team lost to Kentucky 72-64 in the first round of the NCAA.

The Gators had already secured a spot in this year's NCAA tournament before beating South Carolina Sunday in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game, but the win erased any doubt that they would get a spot in Jacksonville. Not only will Florida college basketball team be able to play in front of a friendly crowd at Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena but the team will have a short trip, which will help offset the fact that they will play Thursday after completing a run of three straight SEC tournament games with the final on Sunday.

"We're certainly excited about our seeding and looking forward to staying in the state of Florida and playing some place very convenient for our fan base," Donovan said. "That being said, the games are still based on performance. Being in Florida doesn't assure us of anything. We need to go out and perform."

The Gators, who have made the NCAA tournament eight straight years, have not advanced beyond the first weekend since reaching the national championship game at the conclusion of the 1999-2000 season.

"It is a big lift to play not too far away from home," Florida forward Adrian Moss said. "We will probably have a lot of fans there. But, again, fans don't win basketball games. We appreciate them and love them but fans don't win basketball games. We've got to go and prepare."

12:45 PM - Mar. 13, 2006

NCAA Game Summary - Denver At South Alabama

Despite shooting just 40.0 percent from the floor in the opening frame, the Jaguars took a 32-29 lead into the break.

In the second stanza, South Alabama made 13-of-18 shots from the foul line en route to the nine-point victory.

The Jaguars committed just 10 turnovers in the contest, while Denver committed 22 miscues. 

11:21 AM - Mar. 1, 2006