Atlanta ? Before Chris Richard turned the rim into a chin-up bar, before fans in the upper deck started chanting, “It’s Great to be a Florida Gator,” even before John Wooden threw his remote control at his TV back in Los Angeles, only one Gator was smiling.

Then again, Corey Brewer always looks as if he’s smiling.

There’s a grin on his face even when he’s not grinning, which certainly wasn’t the case Saturday night. It’s not often a player comes close to perfection.

Brewer did it in the first half, which pretty much set up the entire Bruin Bash his teammates eventually showed up for. The junior forward had hit all three three-pointers he attempted, a two-pointer and all four free throws in the first half.

Those 15 points were 52 percent of Florida’s scoring in the half. Who did he think he was, Kobe Bryant?

“I just knew we needed two games to win the Final Four, and we had to win the first one,” he said. “I felt the whole team was focused.”

If it was, it didn’t really show up in the scorebook. Take away Brewer, and UCLA’s defensive game plan went pretty much as Coach Ben Howland designed.

He’s known as a relentless tactician. Howland never made any excuses for Florida’s 73-57 blowout in last year’s title game, but UCLA fans pointed to the fact he had only one day to prepare to the Gators.

He had a week this time, though some said Howland had been dissecting Florida for the past year. If you’d have told UCLA fans Al Horford and Joakim Noah would combine for zero field-goal attempts and four free throws in the first half, they would have run down Peachtree Street screaming with joy.

Florida's Corey Brewer, right, celebrates a basket in front of UCLA's Alfred Aboya. Brewer scored 19 points - 15 in the first half - against the Bruins in Saturday's 76-66 Florida victory in Atlanta.

But Brewer was not only deadly on offense, he was a big reason the Bruins had only 23 points in the first half. Poor Arron Afflalo probably will be haunted by visions of a smiling demon the rest of his life.

Brewer shut UCLA’s guard down in last year’s title game and did the same Saturday. Afflalo missed the three shots he took in the first half.

He finished with 17 points while Brewer had 19, which only proved how misleading a final scorebook can be. When it really mattered, Brewer was the best player on the court.

“He’s as good a defensive player as I’ve ever been around,” Billy Donovan said. “The biggest thing is, he takes great pride in it.”

One more performance like the one he had Saturday night, and Brewer really will be smiling.