UF Men’s Hoops look to end losing streak Wednesday at South Carolina

The Florida Gator men’s basketball team will look to put an end to its two game losing streak as it travels to Columbia Wednesday night to meet the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Gators (7-6) are coming into this game fresh off a four point loss at the hands of the Connecticut Huskies in a game where Florida once again blew a double digit second half lead. The Gators shot an outstanding 52 percent from the field in the first half but hit just 8-of-25 shots in the second half, shooting an abysmal 32 percent from the floor.

Redshirt junior Dorian Finney-Smith finished as the only Gator in double figures, shooting 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc to secure 19 points on the night. Outside of the former transfer, the Gators received no more than seven points from any other player.

The biggest issue for the Gators on the night was their inability to sink anything from the charity stripe. The Gators shot just 40 percent and closed out the game missing their final four free throws in the final minute. The Huskies sunk a nearly perfect 85 percent from the line, hitting on 17 of their 20 attempts and it was their inability to miss late that essentially put the game away.

Against the Gamecocks Wednesday night, the Gators will be looking to increase those percentages as they look to put together two complete halves of solid basketball. Despite their barely above .500 record, Gators head coach Billy Donovan says his team is still growing as they enter conference play.

“You know, we’ve got a group of guys right now, some that returned from last year. We’ve got a lot of guys in different roles and I think these guys need to learn how to do it. We’re not there right now; this is going to be a process with this group. It is a good group, they work hard but they are really learning what goes into this.”

The Gamecocks (9-3) will be coming into this match up riding high having won their last seven ball games including a big win over ninth ranked Iowa State their last time out. The Gamecocks currently average just over 73 points per game, shooting 45 percent from the field.

The Gamecocks defense has shined throughout the first 12 games of the season giving up just 58 points per game. South Carolina also averages just under six blocks per game to go along with eight steals and Donovan spoke very highly of the Gamecock defense.

“They are one of the best defensive teams in the country right now; I think their numbers prove that out. I think when you look at teams shooting percentage against them and their turnover/assist ratio it’s really very impressive.”

The Gamecocks have been led this season by sophomore guards Duane Notice and Sindarius Thornwell who are averaging 13 and 11 points per game respectively. The only other player in double figures thus far for South Carolina is junior forward Laimonas Chatkevicius who is averaging 10 points per game to go along with five rebounds. However despite the Gamecocks recent success and the Gator struggles, South Carolina head coach Frank Martin noted that the Florida is still a team to be reckoned with.

“For them to have won the number of games that they’ve won with the unfortunate situations from transfers to injuries, to the suspension at the beginning of the year, with the schedule they’ve played, they should be commended instead of looked at it as being not as good. I think as we move forward, Florida is going to continue to become one of the powers in the country.”

The Gators and Gamecocks will be looking to each earn their first wins in SEC play as both teams look to start conference play with a very meaningful victory.

Tipoff between Florida and South Carolina is set for 7pm but you can hear all the action of Wednesday night’s contest on our sister station Country 103.7 the Gator with coverage starting at 6:25.

For the audio of the quotes listed above, click on the links below:

Billy Donovan talks about his team heading into SEC play

Billy Donovan talks about the defense of South Carolina

Frank Martin says the Gators are a great team