Block party: the long arms of Noah & Co. dictate the Final Four tempo.(NCAA TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP)

UCLA backup center Lorenzo Mata must have found it hard to believe--finally some space inside. There he was midway through the first half, deep in the lane with a relatively easy path to the goal.

The thing was, Mata couldn't believe it. Instead of attacking the basket, he hesitated. There was panic in his eyes.

Mata wasn't being guarded by Joakim Noah or Al Horford, who seemed to be altering every UCLA shot within 20 feet of the basket. Instead, Mata was facing reserve big man Chris Richard, he of 13 blocks on the season entering the game. Still, Mata pump-faked, went up softly and put up an airball from about 5 feet. On the Bruins' next possession, Mata rebounded his own missed layup, and Richard made good on what Mata had feared and blocked the attempt.

Such was the Gators' complete defensive domination of UCLA. Leading up to the game, UCLA's defense got more coverage than a high-speed chase along the 405 in Southern California. But Florida also had reached this game because of its defensive intensity.

While the Gators were able to pick apart the Bruins--they got their 45th point, the same total UCLA's past two opponents had scored for the entire game, with 16 minutes, 7 seconds left in the second half-the Bruins never could crack the Gators' pressure.

"We got sped up," UCLA coach Ben Howland says. "We got a little hurried. We had opportunities to actually come into the paint and stop, but we were moving too fast."

The Gators rediscovered their energy and focus on defense the last 11 games of the season (see chart). In the tournament, their pressure peaked-opponents shot 34.7 percent from the field and 26.8 from 3-point range. They blocked a championship-game record 10 shots against UCLA and had 44 blocks in the tournament, second all-time.