The pile of Florida Gators beneath the basket did not wait for the videotape replay to make the finish official. Somewhere on the bottom was Mike Miller, whose last-second drive to a 5-foot shot gave Florida a 69-68 overtime victory Friday over Butler in the first round of the NCAA East Regional.
“I just remember myself saying, `I love ’em, I love ’em,'” Miller said of his teammates.
Butler (23-8) was within seconds of its first NCAA tournament victory since 1962. As the Gators celebrated, LaVall Jordan of the Bulldogs was alone on the court, on his back, until coach Barry Collier guided him off the floor.
Miller’s score propelled the Gators into a second-round meeting with Illinois and Lon Kruger, who left Florida in 1996 after six seasons as coach. Florida (25-7) had fallen behind by three points with 30.5 seconds to go in overtime.
But the Gators survived when Jordan missed a 17-foot shot with a second to go in regulation time. Jordan also missed a pair of free throws with the Bulldogs ahead by a point and 8.1 seconds to play in overtime.
Jordan rejoined the Butler team late Thursday night after attending the funeral of his great-aunt, Jetha Jeffers, in Albion, Mich. Collier said Jordan had been raised by his great-aunt from the ages of 3 to 16.
“We told him we loved him,” Collier said. “I think he knows all those things.”
Pushed back by Florida’s win and DePaul’s overtime loss to Kansas, Duke’s 82-55 romp over Lamar in the fourth and final NCAA East Regional opener at Lawrence Joel Coliseum didn’t end until 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
A No. 16-seeded team has never beaten a No. 1-seeded team in NCAA tournament history, but Lamar hit 11 of 21 three-point attempts and made Duke sweat a little.
Behind 18 points from Jason Williams, 16 from Carlos Boozer and 12 each from Nate James and Shane Battier, the Blue Devils (28-4) moved into Sunday’s second round against Kansas. But Lamar (15-16) gave them 20 hard minutes to remember. With four minutes to go in the first half, Lamar trailed 34-31.
“Lamar really came out and attacked us hard,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
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“We expected them to attack us with three-pointers, but we didn’t defend the three well. We can play better, but Lamar had a lot to do with that.”