Beal answers call, leads Gators past Marquette
PHOENIX -- Exactly as his coach asked him to, Bradley Beal is bringing out his "A" game. His latest bit of wizardry moved Florida a win away from the Final Four and set up Billy Donovan with a perfectly scripted matchup against his old coach and boss, Rick Pitino.
Beal, the freshman guard with NBA potential, scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting Thursday to help the Gators to a 68-58 victory over Marquette.
Next up for No. 7 seed Florida (26-10) is a West Region final on Saturday against Louisville and Pitino, who taught ol' Billy The Kid a lot of what he knows.
"Obviously, I've said that outside of my parents, he's the most influential person in my life," Donovan said.
The most influential person on Donovan's team? On this night, it was Beal. He also had six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots, including one on Jae Crowder while the third-seeded Golden Eagles (27-8) were trying to claw back after trailing by 14.
Crowder, a senior and the Big East player of the year, never found his touch. After sitting for eight minutes in the first half with foul trouble, he finished with 15 points while another Marquette senior, Darius Johnson-Odom, also struggled and scored 14 points.
Erving Walker had 11 for the Gators, including a 3-pointer that came after Patric Young scrapped for an offensive rebound with 2:05 left. It snapped a 6-0 Marquette run that pulled the Golden Eagles to within six.
Kenny Boynton (11 points) made 5 of 6 free throws to ice it for the Gators, who reached a region final for the second straight year. But the biggest difference maker was Beal, a high school national player of the year whom Donovan has been pushing to be more assertive.
"He doesn't want to step on toes; he's very aware of his place on the team," Donovan said. "You can't do anything but love him because of the way he handles himself."
