Another Florida-UCLA meeting in the NCAA Tournament went the way of the Gators.
Michael Frazier II made five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 19 points and top-seeded Florida ousted the Bruins for the fourth time in the past eight years with a tense 79-68 victory in a familiar Sweet 16 showdown.
Florida has now reached the Elite Eight four straight years, and while the previous three all ended in defeats, the Gators get another shot at a Final Four appearance on Saturday against upstart Dayton. The 11th-seeded Flyers beat Stanford, 82-72, in Thursday's other South Region matchup at FedExForum.
The nightcap was a tight affair despite what the final score may indicate and the fact that Gators (35-2) never trailed in the second half.
UCLA (28-9) was within one with 10 minutes to go before SEC Player of the Year Scottie Wilbekin stepped up and scored eight of his 13 points in the final six-plus minutes to help Florida pull away for its 29th consecutive win.
Casey Prather added 12 points and Dorian Finney-Smith netted 10 in the win.
Jordan Adams led the Bruins with 17 points, while Travis Wear had 14 for the Pac-12 Tournament champions, who also lost to Florida in the 2006 title game, the 2007 Final Four and the 2011 round-of-32.
[SportsNetwork.com]
