Before Saturday’s 76-67 Southeastern Conference home loss to Auburn, Florida was showing its best form of the season.
The Gators had won five games in a row, including blowouts of ranked teams Georgia and Tennessee, plus a road triumph over then-No. 10 Vanderbilt.
No. 19 Florida will attempt to find that level of play again on Wednesday night when it faces South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
One thing the Gators (14-6, 5-2) will try to do is get their frontcourt going.
While Thomas Haugh scored 27 points against the Tigers, Alex Condon managed just one point and committed four turnovers. Rueben Chinyelu tried to take up the slack with 10 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough.
“We got to find ways to counteract it,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “And do a better job of taking advantage of being wide open on the perimeter and wide open in the middle of the floor.”
Another thing Florida can do is make free throws. It was 13th in the conference in free-throw percentage prior to the Auburn game, and did nothing to help that stat when it hit just 16 of 27 from the line in that matchup.
Chinyelu clanked three shots at the line, going 4 for 7.
“I think it’s just unacceptable, just missing free throws,” he said. “It’s called free for a reason. We’re going to work on that and make sure we’re much better for the next game.”
Haugh leads five Gators in double figures in scoring at 17.4 points per game, while Condon adds 13.4. Chinyelu averages a double-double with 11.9 ppg and 11.0 rebounds. Boogie Fland and Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee chip in 11.3 ppg and 11.2 ppg, respectively.
As for South Carolina (11-9, 2-5), it’s coming off a 92-69 loss Saturday at Texas A&M, which sank a whopping 17 of 39 3-point attempts. A slow start hurt the Gamecocks, who trailed 46-25 at halftime.
“Getting off to a fast start is always preferable, I would say,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said. “It’s not a necessity, but if you had your druthers, I’d always choose to have a fast start than a slow start.”
Wasted in the latest loss were a 26-point effort from Meechie Johnson and an 18-point performance by Kobe Knox. The duo combined to hit 14 of 26 shots from the field, but their teammates combined to make only 10 of 35.
On paper, this isn’t a great matchup for the Gamecocks, given Florida’s strength inside. South Carolina shoots a respectable 45.7% from the field but only 32.2% on 3-pointers. The Gamecocks might have to make a spate of 3-point shots to improve their chances of winning.
They also need to hang with the Gators on the boards. South Carolina enters this contest averaging 34.3 rebounds per game.
This will be the first of two meetings between these programs this season. They will play again on Feb. 17 in Gainesville, Fla.
