All the talk heading into Florida’s first NCAA Tournament game was that the Gators were poised to bounce back from their crushing 23-point defeat to Kentucky in their first game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Florida was a 5-seed, Albany was a 12-seed, and the Gators hail from the SEC while Albany comes from the America East.
“We’re here to win just as much as they are,” redshirt senior Carlie Needles said in a release on Thursday. “And we expect to win so we’re going to play like that and respect them obviously but come prepared.”
Albany had other ideas.