Holding on to first place in the SEC standings the Florida Gators didn’t mess around on Tuesday controlling the game from start to finish and downing the South Carolina Gamecocks by a score of 76-62. Right now things couldn’t be going much differently for the two programs as Florida is at the top of the standings looking to better their NCAA Tournament seed and compete for banners, while South Carolina sits dead last in the standings and is just trying to claw back into relevancy. The Gamecocks’ issues have never come from lack of preparedness or effort and they played well, pushing the Gators to maintain their effort level and keeping the game respectable. This is an example of just how overwhelming Florida’s talent can be as the bottom of the league can play quite well and still lose by mid-double digits as the Gators proved once again. With the win the Gators improve to 11-2 in the SEC, and so long as they continue to take care of business in the games they’re expected to, it will be smooth sailing into the SEC Tournament and beyond.
Milestone Night
All discussion about Tuesday’s game needs to start with the milestone hit by Alex Condon who had his 1000th point as a Gator. A key rotation piece ever since he joined the Gators in 2023, it feels like he has been a part of the program for even longer and has been consistent when it comes to his effort and toughness on the inside. Entering Tuesday’s game needing 12 points to hit the 1000-point mark it seemed likely he’d hit it, and he did so in style leading the Gators with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. It almost seemed like his 20 points were a perfect microcosm of all his time at Florida as he scored in transition, facing up in the mid-post, and of course–by catching lobs and throwing down thunderous dunks. Players aren’t always able to control the way in which they hit milestones, but it seemed like this one was pretty poetic.
Making Adjustments
Looking at South Carolina’s record you might expect them to be a team that is laying down just ready for the season to be over but that isn’t the case–they are a smart, hard-playing group that comes into games prepared to give it their all and usually with a savvy game plan. That’s exactly what happened against Florida as there was a clear strategy to create mismatches and attack them offensively, and they also had some defensive adjustments in place such as hard hedging pick and rolls and trapping on the block. This forced Florida into having to make some adjustments and react to what the Gamecocks were doing, and while it wasn’t always pretty (the Gators would have loved to have mustered more than 76 points and 1.13 point per possession) it should be valuable experience as these are the types of things teams need to deal with in the NCAA Tournament. Another thing that South Carolina did was largely abandon offensive rebounding and instead focusing on getting back on defense in transition which slowed down the pace of the game, and with Florida not always playing their best in half court settings this became more valuable reps.
Continuing To Pound
Since South Carolina wasn’t sending bodies to the offensive glass there was one player in particular that was benefitting from uncontested rebounds and that was, you guessed it–Rueben Chinyelu. Chinyelu had 10 rebounds in about the first 15 minutes of game action and finished with 17 total–something that for most players would seem like a monster output but for Chinyelu just seems like another walk in the park. What he has done to normalize getting such massive rebound totals is nothing short of remarkable, and that’s why I need to force myself to remember that this is not normal despite how easy he’s making it. It wasn’t just the uncontested rebounds he was able to gobble up on the defensive side as he also had 7 O-boards, taking advantage of the much smaller South Carolina frontcourt. Those extra chances resulted in 15 points for the big man, again–a number that would have seemed like a ton for him a year ago but now just seems routine.
Final Thoughts
The Gators should be happy that the Gamecocks are still fighting, as this game had a chance to be sleepy midweek affair that saw the favored team with by 30, and while the Gators might have wanted a more lopsided win this game script is probably much better for the long-term goals of the team. South Carolina played smart and it forced the Gators to focus and not simply coast, and that will hopefully help them in a couple of weeks when SEC Tournament play begins.