ARLINGTON, Texas — Thirty straight wins, down the drain.
Top-seeded Florida’s 30-game winning streak, started after a buzzer-beater loss to UConn on Dec. 2, ended on Saturday night in the national semifinals with their third loss of the season, 63-53, and second to the No. 7-seeded Huskies.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t go out the way we would like to, but only one team is going to do that,” senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin said. “We just have to try and remember all the good things that we did before this point.”
It was hard to point to any positives for much of the game, the last in a season in which Florida (36-3) looked like the best team in college basketball, going undefeated in the SEC.
The Gators’ trademark defense was outdone by the Huskies, who held Florida below 39 percent shooting from the field, including 1-of-10 on 3-pointers. The experienced, selfless squad recorded just three assists, and had 11 turnovers, as its stronger frontline was out-rebounded.
Most perplexing was the performance of Wilbekin, who carried the Gators through their first four games of the NCAA Tournament, but crumbled in the biggest game of his career.
Wilbekin was harassed into a putrid performance, with four points, one assist and three turnovers. He battled a minor leg cramp in the second half and settled for far too many outside shots, each appearing more desperate than the last.
“The difference in the game was Scottie Wilbekin couldn’t live in the lane like he had all year long for us,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
The ending was more amazing because of the beginning, in which Florida led 16-4 after the opening 11:09. The Gators then went 4-for-19 and were outscored 27-6, leading to their first second-half deficit of the tournament with four double-digit wins.
Wisconsin made 19-of-20 free throws, but the one it missed — the first of three Traveon Jackson free-throw attempts with 15.2 seconds left— cost the Badgers dearly. Jackson gave Wisconsin a 73-71 lead, but Kentucky’s Aaron Harrison hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left to give the Wildcats the 74-73 victory.
“He’s a clutch free-throw shooter,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said of Jackson. “We’re 17-for-17 at that point. I liked our chances. It just didn’t happen.”
Jackson had a chance to send Wisconsin to Monday night at the buzzer, but his left-wing bank shot at the buzzer was long, ending the Big Ten dynamo’s first run to the Final Four since 1999.
The attendance at AT&T Stadium was 79,444, breaking the all-time Division I men’s basketball attendance record. The previous mark was 78,129, set between Michigan State and Kentucky in a nonconference matchup in 2003 at Ford Field in Detroit. … The AAC is the first first-year conference to advance a team to the national championship game since the field expanded in 1985. … Monday’s title game represents the first time since 1966 neither finalist participated in the NCAA Tournament the previous year. Kentucky played in the NIT, losing in the first round last year, while UConn wasn’t eligible for the postseason because of poor academic results.
Wisconsin juniors Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky told ESPN they plan to return to school for their junior and senior years, respectively, which should make the Badgers a Final Four contender again next season.