INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- With his famous father in attendance, Joakim Noah made a name for himself on college basketball's biggest stage.

Noah scored 16 points and set a championship game record with six blocks as third-seeded Florida claimed its first national title with a 73-57 victory over No. 2 UCLA.

Appearing in their second championship game just 12 years after making their first Final Four, the Gators (33-6) displayed an overpowering offense and suffocating defense to become the first Southeastern Conference to win the title since Kentucky in 1998.

The main force behind that effort was Noah, the son of former French Open champion Yannick Noah.

"This is the best I've ever felt in my life," said Joakim Noah, who raced into the crowd to embrace his father afterwards. "You work so hard for these moments. They're so worth it."

Teaming with fellow sophomore bigman Al Horford, Noah both set up and slammed home numerous offensive chances in the paint. On defense, the Gators intimidated and shut down the Bruins on the inside, as Noah and Horford combined for 10 blocks and altered several more.

"Defensively, he's just long," UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said of Noah. "He has the ability to change shots if he's not blocking them. He just plays with a lot of energy."

Becoming the first sophomore to capture Most Outstanding Player honors since Arkansas' Corliss Williamson in 1994, Noah shot 7-of-9 from the floor, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out three assists.

Behind the stifling defense, the Gators grabbed a 36-25 advantage at the half. UCLA (32-7) shot just 30 percent (8-of-27) in the opening 20 minutes.

The Bruins came in as the heralded defensive team after holding its last two opponents - Memphis and Louisiana State - to just 45 points each.

"Everybody was talking about their defense," Florida swingman Corey Brewer said. "We proved who's the best defensive team and we're national champions."

"They're obviously an outstanding team," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "They played in all phases. Their defense was terrific. We got sped up, got a little hurried."

The lead grew to an insurmountable 47-29 less than five minutes into the second half after Lee Humphrey hit a pair of 3-pointers and Brewer added another off a steal by Noah. The 6-11 Noah capped the run with one of Florida's numerous dunks.

Appearing in its 13th national title game, UCLA later managed to close within 61-49 on a layup by Afflalo with 5:52 remaining. However, Florida's Taurean Green broke the ensuing press and fed Horford for a dunk.

Florida coach became just the third person to play in a Final Four, then win it as a coach. He was guard on the Providence team that reached the Final Four in 1987.

"There's a lot of people to be thankful for, that put me in this situation to be able to do this," Donovan said. "That's what I realize is that after playing, I don't view (former Providence coach Rick Pitino) as the coach that took me to the Final Four. I view him as the coach that taught me so many things that I could hand down, carry on and share with other kids. To me, that's what it's ultimately about."

Humphrey scored 15 points and Horford had 14 for the Gators, who shot 45 percent (26-of-58) and finished with 21 assists against six turnovers.

"I thought tonight was going to be about offense," Donovan said. "What I mean by that is I thought who could attack each other's defense better was going to have a better chance of winning the game."

Jordan Farmar scored 18 points but Afflalo, the Bruins' leading scorer, finished with just 10 on 3-of-10 shooting after being hounded by the 6-8 Brewer.

"You know, sometimes we rely on our defense to get offense for us," Afflalo said. "I just had to let the game come to me. I probably just needed to slow down, shot fake, do some things better to get my shot off."

It was just the second loss in the championship game for UCLA, which leads the NCAA with 11 titles.