The outbreak of COVID-19 has taken over the sports world with the professional sports in suspension and the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament. So, Sixers Wire will bring back some of the best moments of March Madness for the current Philadelphia 76ers.
We turn our attention on Thursday back to Al Horford and the Florida Gators. In 2007, the Gators were looking to defend their title they won in 2006 and they had a big matchup in the Round of 32 with the Purdue Boilermakers. They took care of the 16 seed Jackson State Tigers in the Round of 64.
March 19, 2007
The Gators were in a battle from the beginning in this one. The 9 seed Boilermakers were led by an NBA talent in Carl Landry and he gave Horford and Joakim Noah a battle down low. Purdue was actually in front at halftime 31-29 as they had the defending champs on the ropes.
Florida then buckled down on defense, found a groove offensively, and they then went on to win it 74-67 thanks to Horford and Corey Brewer. Both players led the 1 seeded Gators with 17 points each with Horford shooting an efficient 7-for-9 to do so while pulling down nine rebounds.
Purdue decided to defend Horford one-on-one for the majority of this game and that turned out to be a bad choice. He and the Gators feasted on those matchups down the stretch to make sure they got the win.
Horford reacted postgame:
Guys knew what time it was. We weren’t executing well all game. When it came down to it, we knew it was going to be a grind, and we were able to execute the game the right way and get the shots that we wanted.
The Gators will now move on to the Sweet 16 to take on the Butler Bulldogs as they continue their path to defend their title. [lawrence-related id=28315,28306,28282]