UF men fall to South Carolina 69-68 in SEC opener

Sunday, January 7

Columbia, SC

4:00 PM

Florida Gators

South Carolina

UF men fall to South Carolina 69-68 in SEC opener

Monday, January 8, 2001 | Men's Basketball

Travis Kraft, sent into the game with 20 seconds left, hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to give South Carolina a stunning 69-68 upset of fifth ranked Florida on Sunday. Matt Bonner led the Gators with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

The Gators held a 63-53 lead late in the second half, but the Gamecocks went on an 11-2 run to cut the Gator lead to one, 67-66. Coach Billy Donovan said in his postgame interview that the game didn't need to end like it did. "Certainly everyone is going to focus on the last shot, but we had a chance to put the game out of reach," said Donovan. "Our turnovers, our lack of free throw shooting down the stretch in the last three or four minutes cost us the game."

The Gators also had trouble in the foul department. Udonis Haslem, Florida's leading scorer, played just 14 minutes and scored only four points. "Haslem plays three minutes and he's got three or four fouls, Teddy Dupay was in foul trouble, Justin Hamilton was in foul trouble," said Donovan. "You just can't do that to our basketball team when you've got a guy like Brent Wright sitting out." Donovan was referring to the foot injury to Wright that will keep the starting forward out from three to six weeks.

Brett Nelson with 13 points and Orien Green with 12 were the only other Gators in double figures. The Gamecocks were led by Jamel Bradley's 16 points.

The loss drops the Gators record to 10-2 overall and 0-1 in the SEC. South Carolina improves to 9-3 and 1-0 in league play. The Gators' next game will be Wednesday night at Mississippi State in Starkville. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. eastern.