For 40 minutes in a raucous, enraptured O’Connell Center, Florida played the game it needed to play when it most needed a win.
For 40 minutes, against the No. 2 team in the polls — a team few would be surprised to see at the Final Four, or in the national championship game, or snipping nets — and the possible No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Florida also played the sort of game it has infuriated fans with over Mike White’s tenure, with spotty to stupefying offense threatening to scuttle the accomplishments of dedicated, determined defense, and minor errors at enormous moments doing the same.