The supporting cast gets involved
For much of the last three games, the Flordia Gators had morphed into the Frightin' Tre Mann's. The sophomore guard was averaging 22.6 points and shooting 58 percent from the floor over his previous five games, including a career-high 30 in a loss against Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
Frankly, Mann had been dragging the Gators behind him and trying to urge the team to victories while his teammates watched. Mann needed his teammates to step up if the Gators didn't want to be one and done in March and he got just that Friday afternoon.
Colin Castleton recorded the 25th double-double in Gators NCAA Tournament history. His 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. For good measure, he also added three blocked shots.
"I knew the past couple of games I wasn't really rebounding to my standard. Coaches talk about it and I know what I've gotta bring every day and if I don't, then it doesn't look good on myself and the team," Castleton said after the game. "I realized that I had to do better on the rebounding part and that just comes with aggressiveness, playing at a high motor and just wanting it more than the other team."
Castleton joined a pretty elite list of players who had at least 19 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and two assists in an NCAA Tournament game:
Colin Castleton, Zion Williamson, JaJuan Johnson, Kevin Love, Nick Collison (3x), Tim Duncan, and Paul Pierce.
It wasn't just Castleton. Scottie Lewis bounced back from a shooting slump to pour in 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Noah Locke also added 10 points despite not hitting a three-pointer in the game.
Three statsÂ
Florida shot just 66.7% from the charity stripe (18-27) and turned the ball over 18 times. That's not usually a recipe for a win, but the Florida defense held the Hokies to just 42% shooting (24-57).
The Gators out-rebounded Virginia Tech 36-22.
Friday's win marked the third time in the last decade that the Gators have bounced back from a double-digit deficit to win an NCAA Tournament game. Florida previously came back from down 10-plus vs. Wisconsin in the 2017 Sweet 16 & FGCU in 2013 Sweet 16.
Highlight of the gameÂ
How about this step-back three from Tre Mann with time running down in overtime, to make it a two-possession game with less than 30 seconds left in the game?
Ice cold.
