South Carolina at No. 12 Florida

 
* When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (19-6, 10-2) / South Carolina (11-14, 2-10)
* Series/Last meeting: Florida leads 51-29, including a historic 95-47 road-killing of the Gamecocks less than two weeks ago. The Gators went to Colonial Life Arena on Jan. 28, shot 58% in the first half to build a 28-point lead and went on to equal the largest margin of victory (47 points) in the program’s SEC history. Forward Thomas Haugh led the way with 18 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while center Rueben Chinyelu had 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. UF defended USC into 26% and just 3-for-20 from the 3-point line (15%). 
* TV: SEC Network (John Schriffen and Mark Wise)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD 
  (with Sean Kelley, Brian Hogan and Steve Egan) 
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

 

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Junior	13.3 pts / 8.0 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Junior	11.8 pts / 11.7 reb
Thomas Haugh	F	6-9 / 215	Junior	17.5 pts / 6.3 reb
Xaivian Lee	G	6-4 / 185	Senior	11.4 pts / 3.8 reb
Boogie Fland	G	6-3 / 185	Sophomore	11.3 pts / 2.5 reb / 3.7 ast

South Carolina	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Elijah Strong	F	6-8 / 250	Junior	10.5 pts / 2.6 reb
Mike Sharavjamts	G	6-9 / 195	Senior	10.9 pts / 5.5 reb
Myles Stute	G	6-7 / 221	Graduate	6.6 pts / 4.3 reb
Kobe Knox	G	6-5 / 200	R-Senior	10.5 pts / 3.7 reb
Meechie Johnson	G	6-2 / 192	Senior	16.7 pts / 3.2 reb

The Setup

No. xx Florida and South Carolina meet for the second time in three weeks. … The Gators, alone the atop the Southeastern Conference standings, have won five straight and are playing as well as any team in the country, coming off Saturday’s 92-83 home win over No. 25 Kentucky that marked the program’s first defeat of the Wildcats in Gainesville in eight years. The Gamecocks, alone at the bottom of the SEC standings, have lost six straight (all by at least nine points) and have not won since Jan. 20. … UF has won five of the previous six in the series and last lost to USC at home in 2021. … Gators coach Todd Golden is 5-1 against the Gamecocks, including 2-0 at the O’Dome. 

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	South Carolina
86.5	Scoring	76.4
.470	Field-goal percentage	.441
.295	3-point percentage	.306
71.4	Scoring defense	75.9
.405	Field-goal percentage defense	.451
.329	3-point percentage defense	.320
5th	KenPom.com overall ranking	97th
16th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	112th
4th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	96th
41st	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	228th
9th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	112th
4th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	69th

The Breakdown 

About the Gators: They’ve moved into the top 10 in both the KenPom.com overall rankings, as well as the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) metrics that will ultimately seed the NCAA Tournament. UF is jostling between the No. 2- and 3-seed line after stacking a run of seven straight Quadrant 1 victories. … The Gators are seeking a sixth consecutive SEC win for the first time since 2017. They won the previous five by an average of 23.6 points, with three of the victories on the road. … A win over the Gamecocks and loss by second-place Arkansas (an underdog Wednesday at Alabama) would give the Gators a two-game cushion in the conference standings with five games to go. … In SEC play, Florida tops the league in offensive and defensive efficiency, offensive rebounding, 2-point percentage defense, offensive block percentage and defensive steal percentage; the Gators are second in offensive rebounding and 2-point percentage offense. … UF hit 10 3-pointers in the last two games. It marked the first time this season UF hit double-digit 3-pointers in back-to-back games. The Gators have inched up to 29.5% from deep as a team on the season and 31.1 in SEC play. … Guard Xaivian Lee has put together his best back-to-back performances in a UF uniform. Last week, he averaged 20.0 points on 14-for-26 shooting overall (54%), seven of 16 from the 3-point line (44%) and combined for 10 assists and just two turnovers in the wins at Georgia and against Kentucky. His 22 points against the Wildcats were his UF career best since transferring from Princeton. … Center Rueben Chinyelu has double-doubles in five of the previous six games, with the one hiccup a 7-point, 20-rebound effort at Georgia. … Forward Alex Condon had his fifth double-double of the season against Kentucky with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Thomas Haugh, who last week played in his 100th game as a Gator without a miss, had 17 points and eight rebounds. … Point guard Boogie Fland was limited to eight points in the UK game, but his defense, as usual, was outstanding and helped the Gators hold the Wildcats to 43% from the floor. … Backup guard Urban Klavzar (10.1 ppg) rained in a career-high five 3s on 11 attempts last game and is now shooting 39.1% from distance on the season and 42.5% in SEC play. … Backup center Micah Handlogten (4.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg) had a plus-14 on-floor score for his 17 minutes, which was a game-high. The 7-1 senior has 72 defensive rebounds on the season and 71 on the offensive end, the latter a phenomenal number for a player averaging just 14.8 minutes per game. 

About the Gamecocks: It’s their fourth season under Lamont Paris, whose record at USC is 60-64 overall, including 21-44 in conference play. … South Carolina’s metrics have taken a beating the last few weeks, as the team has lost six consecutive games by an average of 19.5 points. … In league play, the Gamecocks rank last in the conference in overall offensive efficiency, effective field-goal percentage and offensive rebounding (just 24.1%); they’re next-to-last in 2-point and 3-point percentage. They’re also last in defensive efficiency. Bad combo. … Point guard Meechie Johnson , in his second go-around as a Gamecock after transferring from Ohio State to South Carolina, back to OSU, then back to USC, averages 19.7 points in SEC play, but shoots just 41.4% overall and 31.3 from the 3-point line. During the losing skid, he’s scored 26 twice and a career-high 35 against Texas, but they’ve been empty-calorie points. UF held him 10 in their win late last month. … Mike Sharavjamts is a tall guard with decent range, but he’s also USC’s top rebounder at just 5.5 per game. UF has four players averaging at least 6.0 a game. … Guards Elijah Strong and Myles Stute both shoot over 50% from the 2-point area, but they’ve struggled from the 3-point line this season at 28 and 31%, respectively. … Guard Kobe Knox, the South Florida transfer, is making 60% of his 2-point attempts, but just 28 of his 3s. 

 

Numbers of Note 

* .846 — Florida’s winning percentage in SEC play since starting the ’25 league campaign with a 2-2 mark, based on the Gators’ 22-4 record against league foes since. 

* 1.000 — UF’s winning percentage this season when Chinyelu posts a double-double, based on the Gators’ 15-0 record when hitting the marks.

* 12 — Points needed by Condon to become the 58th player in program history to reach 1,000 for his career. 

 

Bottom Line

Two-thirds of the SEC season is in the books and the Gators are doing all the right things to position themselves for some favorable postseason scenarios. This game (and the next one; and the next; etc.) is about building on everything they’re doing.  

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.