Following a gritty road win against #22 Mississippi State to keep their place in the upper echelon on the SEC the Florida Gators (21-3, 8-3 SEC) will have their chance to add another win when they head home to take on the lowly South Carolina Gamecocks (10-13, 0-10 SEC as of this article publishing–they’ll have another tough game with Ole Miss before Saturday’s contest with Florida) for the second time this season.
As it currently sits the Gators are third in the SEC behind Alabama and Auburn, and with an outside chance at catching those two teams the Gators would love to take care of business at home against a team like South Carolina. Already up against it from a talent standpoint, South Carolina has suffered several injuries that has made life in the SEC nearly impossible which has seen them go winless in the league so far with no real light at the end of the tunnel. According to KenPom South Carolina is favored to lose every remaining game on the schedule and since Missouri had a winless SEC season a year ago there is precedent for a team doing that.
If not for the unlucky injuries, the most painful part of South Carolina’s winless season is the fact that they have been competitive in a number of their losses and if the ball bounced a different way they could have had several wins. They lost to Auburn by 3, Vanderbilt by 3, Florida by 1, Mississippi State by 5 (in overtime), and Texas A&M by 4, all games that they very easily could have won and all games against quality competition. Even despite the terrible record South Carolina is the 78th best team in the country according to KenPom, a mark that would put them in respectable position to finish in the lower middle of the pack in a couple of high-major leagues. The close games they have played is a reminder that they’re still an extremely competitive club who could catch anyone in the SEC on an off night and the Gators will have to come into this game with the same level of focus they have against the league’s top teams.
Injury news is going to be front and center for this matchup as the Gators just played against Mississippi State down two starters after Alex Condon sprained his ankle 30 seconds into the game. He’ll almost certainly miss this game, but the Gators will hope to get guard Alijah Martin back into the rotation after he was a game time decision the last two games.
Myles Stute has been a top defender in the SEC for much of his career and his absence has now reached 9 consecutive games leaving a huge hole on South Carolina’s wing. He is not expected to be available against the Gators.
South Carolina recently got back Jamarii Thomas from injury which has been a massive help. The 5’11” guard is averaging 13.1 points per game as one of their top offensive options and you could see how much his scoring and ball handling was missed against Florida in the first matchup. In his four games back he has scored 19, 19, 15, and 11 points so it looks like he’s right back into the swing of things and he will have to be a focus of Florida’s scouting report.
Thomas certainly would have been helpful to South Carolina in the first meeting with Florida when the Gators used a three quarter court press to confuse the Gamecock ball handlers and force a number of turnovers. At one point South Carolina was up 14 points in the second half and it was the press that completely turned the game around and gave the Gators a win. Ball handling depth is not a strength for the Gamecocks and without their point guard they didn’t have enough capable handlers to handle the Florida pressure and Thomas’ return will be huge in case the press is deployed once again. Given how well it worked the first time around the Gators could use it again even with Thomas back in the lineup, but don’t expect it to be as successful at creating turnovers that turn into immediate points on the other end.
Will Richard was Florida’s leading scorer back in Columbia with 22 points as he was able to get to the rim a number of times while also hitting three triples from deep. Of course, a number of his points came from uncontested layups after the Gators created steals with the press as he is at the top of that alignment, and he’ll hope to benefit from some easy points once again.
In Florida’s last two games Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh have had the best two performances of their season if not their careers, but curiously enough both were extremely quiet against the Gamecocks in the first meeting. Condon finished the game with 5 points while Haugh finished with 2 as the Gamecocks were able to keep them from getting interior touches and that will be something to watch for once again. Of course Condon likely will not be playing, but Haugh is a key Gator in this game and he may have to contribute more than a pair of points if the Gators are going to come away with the win.
South Carolina’s forward duo of Collin Murray-Boyles and Zachary Davis were physical forces against the Gators with 14 and 22 points and they presented some matchup issues for the Gators as slightly shorter, stockier, and more physical bigs than Florida is used to matching up with. Protecting face up drives from these two is going to be something the Gators look to improve upon, and it’s something that more minutes of Thomas Haugh could help with.
Both teams will be playing with some banged up key players and both will likely be missing key starters so this game will be about depth, and focus. South Carolina has remained scrappy despite their losses and Florida hasn’t let big wins get to their head, so expect yet another spirited SEC tilt.
Florida and South Carolina tip off Saturday, February 15th at 8:30 PM ET and it will be televised on SEC Network.