Florida at South Carolina (Saturday, 1 pm)

Florida at South Carolina

* When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
* Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, S.C.
* Records: Florida (9-6, 0-3); South Carolina (10-5, 1-2)
* TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal and Jon Sundvold)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)

Projected Starters

Freshman wing **Kowacie Reeves** (14) got his first career start Wednesday against LSU.

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Anthony Duruji	F	6-7 / 220	R-Senior	9.1 pts / 4.2 reb
Colin Castleton	F	6-11 / 231	Senior	15.8 pts / 9.2 reb
Kowacie Reeves	G	6-6 / 182	Freshman	2.8 pts / 1.1 reb
Tyree Appleby	G	6-1 / 163	R-Senior	9.5 pts / 2.1 reb
Myreon Jones	G	6-3 / 175	Senior	9.9 pts / 3.7 reb

South Carolina	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
AJ Wilson	F	6-7 / 234	Junior	3.7 pts / 4.2 reb
Wildens Leveque	F	6-10 / 235	Junior	9.7 pts / 5.9 reb
Jermaine Couisnard	G	6-4 / 211	Junior	9.9 pts / 2.6 reb
Erik Stevenson	G	6-4 / 179	Senior	11.3 pts / 4.7 reb
James Reese V	G	6-4 / 209	Senior	10.2 pts / 2.8 reb

The Breakdown

South Carolina's **Frank Martin**, now in his 10th season with the Gamecocks, is the second longest-tenured head coach in the SEC (behind only Kentucky's **John Calipari)**.

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Florida opened its Southeastern Conference slate against three opponents ranked in the top 15, the latest being Wednesday's 64-58 home loss to 12th-ranked LSU. The Gators are still looking for their first league win and trying to climb out of the SEC cellar, where it currently resides in a tie with also-winless Georgia. South Carolina has one win, but sits just a single game above UF in the standings. ... The Gators lead the all-time series 46-28, but the Gamecocks won the last meeting when they came to Gainesville on Feb. 3, 2021 and handed the home team a stinging 72-66 loss that ended a feel-good four-game winning streak. UF was riding high at the time, with a 10-4 overall mark, 6-3 in the league, and coming off a huge road upset of 11th-ranked West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge that vaulted the Gators to No. 22 in the rankings. In that one, Florida led by 10 with 13 minutes to go and by six inside six minutes, but South Carolina went on a 10-0 run and scored 13 of the game's final 14 points while the Gators missed their last seven shots and turned the ball over twice in the final five minutes. USC guard AJ Lawson led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds, with backcourt mate Seventh Woods chipping in 12 points, including some maddening straight-line drive, uncontested layups in the second half. UF put four players in double figures, led by guard Tre Mann's 17 points, but the Gators shot just 32 percent in the second half and went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line in the final 20 minutes to aid the collapse. ... UF is 3-6 against USC under Coach Mike White, including 2-2 on the road.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	2021-22 Stats	South Carolina
72.6	Scoring	72.5
.425	Field-goal percentage	.440
.305	3-point percentage	.321
63.4	Scoring defense	67.3
.439	Field-goal percentage defense	.387
.300	3-point percentage defense	.324
37th	KenPom.com overall ranking	104th
56th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	207th
34th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	33rd
158th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	33rd
50th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	103rd
62nd	Overall strength of schedule ranking	30th

Team Snapshots

The Gators

They had their chances against LSU. Plenty. Way more than their fair share, actually, as the Tigers not only were without their starting point guard and leading scorer (Xavier Pinson), but also played most of the game with their two best low-post players, including leading scorer Tari Eason, in foul trouble that rendered both ineffective. UF

couldn't overcome 32-percent shooting in the second half, including eight straight 3-point misses to end the game, as well as an 11-for-22 showing at the free-throw line, with a handful of those misses coming at pivotal moments that undercut a comeback effort from 14 down early in the second half. ... Florida ranks third from the bottom in the SEC in both field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. ... The Gators would be in a world of hurt this season without forward Colin Castleton, who has become the unquestioned lynch pin to everything they do -- on both ends. Because of the team's shooting woes, the UF offense absolutely has to go through Castleton in the post and the team has done a very good job of getting him touches beneath the foul line. Castleton, in turn, has been terrific in making stuff happen. In three league games (against some really good front court players), he's made 21 of 34 field-goal attempts (nearly 62 percent), gotten to free-throw line 24 times (made 18 for 75 percent) and averaged 8.6 rebounds. He went 7-for-10 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the line against LSU, while the rest of his teammates were 13-for-45 and 6-for-16. ... The uneven play of floor general Tyree Appleby took another turn last game. After dishing a UF career-best nine assists versus four turnovers in the loss at Auburn, Appleby had just one assist, four turnovers and sat for the game's final eight minutes. The inability to find consistency at the point guard spot (Florida had 13 assists and 14 turnovers against the Tigers and the nation's No. 1-rated defense) is an ongoing issue. ... Forward Anthony Duruji failed to make a 3-pointer for just the fifth time this season (he missed a pair from deep, along with both his free throws), but dropped four of his five 2-point shots. ... Freshman Kowacie Reeves was rewarded for his steady play during practice with his first collegiate start in the LSU game. Part of the reason was the struggles the previous two games of grad-transfer Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (10.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg), as well as fellow grad-transfer Brandon McKissic (6.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg) being held out of practice the previous two days due to soreness. Reeves played 14 minutes and had three points and an assist, hitting one of his attempts from deep. Fleming had 11 points off the bench, with a trio of 3-pointers, but McKissic went just 1-for-8 in his reserve duty and missed both his free-throw tries. ... Guard Myreon Jones was 2-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-9 from distance. He also had a tough night at the free-throw line (3-6), plus three turnovers. ... Backup forward CJ Felder went without a field goal for just the second game this season and for the first time since the Florida State game Nov. 14. He has just five points the last two games and also went three of six from the line. Felder is from Sumter, S.C., about 40 minutes from the USC campus. Lots of family will be on hand.

The Gamecocks

It's their 10th season under Coach Frank Martin, who rates second in the SEC behind Kentucky's John Calipari for league longevity. Martin got to USC in 2012 and has gone 279-192 overall, including 71-90 in league play, with one NCAA Tournament appearance (plus one NIT). That one NCAA, though, proved wildly successful (at the Gators' expense, no less), as the

Gamecocks made a run to the only Final Four in program history and got there by defeating UF in the Elite Eight. Martin's teams, of course, are notorious for their physicality and toughness, but the last few years he's given his players some more rope to get out on the break and attack early, if transition opportunities are available. This season, the Gamecocks rank 32nd nationally in pace. Last year, they finished third, but also went 6-15 on the season. … They're currently ninth in the SEC in field-goal percentage and eighth in 3-point percentage. … South Carolina's roster is dotted with eight transfers; seven from Division-I programs and one from junior college. … USC is led by guard Erik Stevenson, the two-time transfer who started his career at Wichita State, played one season at Washington (9.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg), then bolted cross-country for Columbia. He's shooting 36.3 percent overall and 28.3, but is a percent 28-for-28 from the free-throw line. .. Guard James Reese V is on his fourth school: Buffalo, Odessa JC, North Texas and now USC, where he's playing his best basketball. He's one of two Gamecocks averaging in double figures, shooting 40.8 from the floor and just shy of 40 percent from deep. … Guard Jermaine Couisnard, out of Monteverde (Fla.) Academy, is a three-year Gamecock and also has decent shooting numbers from the arc at 37.5. … Center/Forward Wildens Leveque arrived with the same class as Couisnard (by way of Canada). He had a 12/10 double-double against Princeton early in the season. … Guard AJ Wilson was a four-year letter winner at George Mason, where he averaged 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds over 114 games. … Backup senior guard Keyshawn Bryant, out of Winter Haven, Fla., averaged 15.8 points , 5.9 rebounds and 26 minutes a game last season, has been a solid athlete and all-around contributor the last four seasons, but his role has been reduced as a senior as he deals with a shoulder injury. … Backup freshman guard Devin Clark is averaging 8.3 points in just over 17 minutes per game.

Numbers of Note

Flashback to 2020, when then UF guard **Andrew Nembhard** (2) led the Gators to a road defeat of the Gamecocks by carding the first double-double of his career.

* minus-17 — Appleby's plus-minus score against LSU. That's unusually high for a close game. Because he's the lone true point guard on the roster, the Gators are going to go as he goes.

* .535 — Castleton's field-goal percentage for the season (all games), which ranks second in the SEC behind only Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe (.627), currently the runaway leader for now, for SEC Player of the Year.

* 2 — The number worn by former UF point guard Andrew Nembhard, now at Gonzaga, when the Gators last came to Columbia and the sophomore tallied his first career double-double by scoring 21 points and dishing 10 assists in an 81-68 victory on Jan. 7, 2020.

* 5 — Consecutive victories for the road team in the Florida-South Carolina series. UF was the last home team to win, taking an 81-68 victory on Feb. 21, 207. A month later, USC returned the favor, 77-70, in the NCAA East Region title game at Madison Square Garden.

* 1951 — The last year the Gators started 0-4 in SEC play.

Bottom Line

Lots of games still to go. Lots of work to do, obviously.

Gators Calendar

Florida at South Carolina (Saturday, 1 pm)