As the curtain quietly closed on the great career of BYU guard Jimmer Fredette, another star rose during Thursday's Sweet 16 game in New Orleans.
Florida forward Alex Tyus, who has been relatively quiet in the scoring department during the NCAA tournament, led both teams with 19 points and 17 rebounds to help the Gators to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2007 when they won the national championship.
"Tyus is a really good player, athletic, long, is a guy who can hit shots from the perimeter," BYU coach Dave Rose said after the game. "But I thought that the Florida coaching staff did a great job of kind of isolating him in space and getting him a chance to have some pretty good match-ups. But he did a lot of damage on the boards where he got offensive rebounds and scored."
Tyus did what others interiors players have not been able to do this tournament and exploited BYU's lack of size and experience down low. Ever since the Cougars lost star forward Brandon Davies, their leading rebounder who was suspended after an honor code violation, many believed that a team with a strong interior game would be the Cougars undoing. Until Thursday, none of the Cougars' opponents had been consistent inside, but Tyus made seven of his eight shots, and even stepped out for a 3-pointer, to turn in the best game of the season.
"I thought he did a great job defensive rebounding and limiting them at times to second shots," Florida coach Billy Donovan said of Tyus. "But he was just really athletically very, very active, and that helped. You know, he got off to a good start, made his fist jump shots, then all of a sudden he made a three-point shot and he just kind of got things going. Then he made some baskets in around close in the second half. But he really played a terrific game. I'm happy for him being a senior."
BYU did get a career-high 15 rebounds from freshman Kyle Collinsworth, but he did little on the offensive end. In fact, outside of Fredette's 32 points, BYU's next highest scorers, Noah Hartsock and Jackson Emery, had nine points each.
Florida was a little more balanced.
The Gators had four players in double figures, including 17 points from Kenny Boynton, who came into the game with an injured ankle. Forward Chandler Parsons and guard Erving Walker each had 16.
Overall, Florida shot 47.7 percent from the field and made 11 3-pointers.
The diversity in scoring is what makes Florida one of the most dangerous teams remaining in the field. Tyus put the Gators on his back Thursday night, but Walker, Parsons and Boyton are all capable of doing the same thing on any given night.
Even though Vernon Macklin is the only member of this Florida team remaining from the 2007 national championship squad, this year's Gators have a lot of the same characteristics, especially if Tyus can continue to be a rebounding and scoring threat from here on out.
Florida has not been back to the NCAA tournament since winning the national championship 2007, but now they are one game away from the Final Four.
"The standard was set so high for that two years (the national championships of 2006 and 07) that we had to take a dip, and I'm so happy for those guys," Donovan said. "It's been so rewarding for me to see them make the journey they've made to this point right now. It's been very, very rewarding and fulfilling for me, and I hope in some way I've been able to give them as much as they've given me."
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