SAN FRANCISCO >> The Golden State Warriors once relied upon a deep bench and contributions from up and down the lineup to win championships, thanks to their Strength in Numbers.

On Thursday night, No. 1 Florida, coached by former USF coach and Saint Mary’s guard Todd Golden, took a page out of the Dubs’ book in the Sweet 16. Facing off against No. 4 Maryland in the opening round of the West Regional in San Francisco, the Gators pounded Maryland with waves of talented players in an 87-71 win at Chase Center.

The Terrapins, led by their vaunted “Crab Five” starting lineup, gave it a go for about 30 minutes. But in the end, math won out.

The results tilted more and more in Florida’s favor as Maryland’s starters wore out, and the Gators separated down the stretch to win going away — and advance to the Elite Eight at Chase Center on Saturday.

“Our depth is one of our biggest strengths, regardless of who we’re competing against,” Golden said.

Florida (33-4) took a 65-54 lead with 10:03 to play on Alijah Martin’s layup and led by double digits the rest of the way.

The Gators kept the pedal down from there, peaking with an 18-point advantage multiple times.

“Florida is really good. They’re deep,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “Their bench really wore us down.”

Florida was making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017, while Maryland (27-9) had not reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2016.

After taking a two-point lead into the half, Florida put the clamps on the Crab Five early in the second half and took control of the game. Maryland, which had rallied from a 10-point deficit early in the first half, had no answers this time around.

Both teams took the better part of the first 10 minutes to settle into the environment at Chase Center. But once they did, it was a fairly even first half.

Maryland, which trailed 20-9 midway through the first half, stumbled out of its early stupor and went on a 7-0 run to get back in the game.

The Terrapins took a 28-27 lead on Derik Queen’s free throw with 5:49 left in the half, and it was game on from there.

They were aided by Florida’s 13 first-half turnovers and an injury on the other side of the floor. Florida had lost all-SEC starting forward Alex Condon to an apparent ankle injury with 12:15 left in the first half and stayed off the floor through halftime.

Condon came out for warmups in the second half and re-entered the game at the 13:29 mark after extensive testing of his ankle on Florida’s tunnel area. He promptly turned the ball over on his first possession back in the game.

The Gators struggled without Condon to end the half, committing 11 fouls and enabling Maryland to get back into the game by driving repeatedly to the rim.

Yet even in his absence, Florida stepped up early in the second half. The Gators pushed the two-point halftime lead to 10 points and led 55-49 when Condon reentered the game.

That was the closest Maryland got the rest of the way as Florida dominated the glass, outrebounding the Terps 42-20.

The Crab Five starting lineup, which had handled most of the scoring for Maryland all season, largely did its job. Queen had 27 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 17, Julian Reese added 12 and Rodney Rice chipped in 10.

But Selton Miguel, the fifth member of the starting quintet, was held scoreless. So was the rest of Maryland’s roster.

Florida, meanwhile, received scoring contributions from up and down the lineup. Eight Gators got on the scoresheet: Will Richard (15 points), Martin (14), Walter Clayton Jr. (13 points), Denzel Aberdeen (12), Thomas Haugh (12), Ruebe Chinyelu (10), Condon (6) and Micah Handlogten (2).