NEW YORK -- This was the team that wasn't supposed to be spending Thanksgiving in New York City. But Stanford will have a happy Turkey Day in the big city, then the Cardinal will be playing for an NIT championship the next night.

Thanks to a total team effort, the (for-now) unranked Cardinal upended a second- straight Top-25 team, this time 69-65 over No. 7 Florida on Wednesday.

"I'm a little surprised with the last couple of wins over Xavier and Florida, to be honest with you," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "But these kids have shown a lot of poise."

They've needed plenty of poise in three NIT nailbiters. The Cardinal's run began with a 61-57 squeaker against Boston University, a team they trailed by four at the half; then they toppled No. 11 Xavier by a single point, setting off an early-season storming of the court at Maples Pavilion.

Wednesday night, they found themselves down four at the half again, and down by as many as eight in the second stanza, but they rallied once more and celebrated at midcourt at Madison Square Garden.

"It's very pleasing to be as far as we are," Montgomery said. "This group really likes each other. They play well together. They are unselfish. It's a great team effort."

It certainly was against Florida. Four Stanford starters finished in double figures, with swingman Josh Childress chipping in seven. Stanford's frontcourt of Rob Little and Justin Davis combined for 32 points and 19 rebounds, while guards Matt Lottich and Julius Barnes added 13 and 11 points respectively.

Down the stretch, Lottich hit a clutch 3-pointer, and Little and Davis each knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the win. Meanwhile, Florida's much-hyped guard tandem of Brett Nelson and Anthony Roberson both missed 3's late that would have tied the game or given the Gators the lead.

Roberson, a freshman McDonald's All-American who averaged 19.7 points per game in his first three college contests, shot a woeful 1-13.

"(Stanford) didn't exceed my expectations," said Florida coach Billy Donovan. "I knew they were a very good basketball team just watching them play on film."

Stanford is smart, and fundamentally sound. The Gators pressed them full-court throughout the game, yet the Cardinal turned the ball over only 10 times, with no individual player having more than two. This despite how young Stanford is -- Barnes is their only senior.

But this team came together early, when Montgomery had the players spend the summer on campus. He made another wizardly move when he installed a zone defense from Day One, figuring teams might not be prepared to face it in the beginning of the season. The good-shooting Gators struggled against it, shooting just 8-28 from beyond the arc.

"Our objective was to buy some early-season wins with [the zone]," Montgomery said. "It worked."

The Cardinal have another weapon besides the zone -- the chip on their shoulder. Everyone expected Xavier to be facing Florida on Wednesday night.

Well, almost everyone.

"We really don't get too focused on outsiders," Davis said. "The team is the only people out there with us and we can't get too concerned with what everybody else thinks."

A lot of people also thought Stanford's eight-year streak of making the NCAA Tournament was in jeopardy this season. Think again.

"But we're not really talking about the big picture," Montgomery said. "We're just trying to win some games."

And doing a fine job.