Florida Gators basketball falls to South Carolina on the road

The Florida Gators basketball team suffered their first SEC loss on Wednesday against the South Carolina Gamecocks 57-53. It was a sloppy game from start to finish, but a game that the Gators were lucky to be in after making many mistakes and not making a single three-pointer, going 0-15 on the night.

It was a sloppy start to the first half as both teams came out struggling shooting a combined 0-10 to start the game. The first points of the game weren’t scored until after the first media under 16-minute timeout. By way of Kasey Hill’s 11 first half points, the Gators were able to silence the electric South Carolina crowd by going to the locker room with a 28-21 halftime lead.

The second half started slowly for the Gators. South Carolina quickly went a five-point run and within a shot of the lead. The Gamecocks, within just five minutes, were able to tie the game at 30.

As the half went on, South Carolina secured a nice lead that seemed as if they wouldn’t relinquish it. Florida went cold from the field and didn’t score a basket for almost six minutes in the second half, but still found themselves in the game. With 2:59 to go, John Egbunu had one of his biggest slam dunks of the year and was fouled which cut the South Carolina lead to 1. The nice run by the Gators proved not to be enough to overcome the Gamecocks.

It was a disappointing offensive performance for the Gators and Mike White, but the team is still in good shape. The Gators will host the Vanderbilt Commodores this Saturday in what will be the third straight home sellout.