COLUMBIA, S.C. – They basically spent 30 minutes flailing and failing to execute the main three keys to success. Florida wanted to match (preferably surpass) South Carolina's physicality from the tip. The Gators wanted to keep standout forward Collin Murray-Boyles from getting and parking on the block. And they wanted to take away the Gamecocks' clever weakside cuts to the basket.
So when none of that worked – and all else had seemingly failed – UF coach
Todd Golden attacked a double-digit deficit with an aggressive 1-2-2 full-court press and mixed in a little man pressure to keep the home team off balance.
How'd that turn out. The Gators came up with a steal. Then another. And another. All told, nine in the final 10-plus minutes, which put the nation's fifth-ranked team, specifically senior guard
Will Richard, in position to steal an incredible 70-69 victory Wednesday night over the stunned and bummed Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena.
Richard attacked the lane (and USC guard Morris Ugusuk) for a high-flying, go-ahead layup with 4.8 seconds left to put his team in front by one. Gamecocks guard Jacobi Wright's 30-foot desperation 3-point attempt – with UF's
Alijah Martin contesting – bounced off the rim and sent the Gators (17-2, 4-2) spilling from the bench to celebrate after equaling the best 19-game start in program history.
"I was just trying to be aggressive," Richard said of his game-winner.
The same could have been said for his coach and teammates after using their pressure defense to erase deficits of 14 with 12 minutes to go, 13 inside nine minutes, nine with just over six remaining and five with 1:05 to play, as the Gamecocks struggled with starting point guard Jamarii Thomas sidelined with a knee injury.
"The press definitely bothered them," Golden said after his team finished with 13 steals, a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers and 22-0 margin in transition points. "A lot of those were live-ball turnovers that allowed us to get layups and 3s. Honestly, I probably should've went to it a little earlier. [It's] not something that we do a lot, but our guys were able to execute out of a timeout, and we just stuck with it for the rest of the game."
Once again, it was UF's three-headed guard monster doing damage, with Richard spectacular in finishing with 22 points on nine of 14 shooting, 3-for-5 from the 3-point line to go with four rebounds and three steals. Senior point guard
Walter Clayton Jr. had 16 points and seven assists, while Martin added 14 points and three steals. forward
Alex Condon had five points, seven rebounds and three steals. Backup guard
Denzel Aberdeen came off the bench for nine points and a pair of steals.
Florida shot just 42.4 percent for the game, while surrendering 49.1 percent to a USC team that came into the game at 39.1 through five SEC outings. When the Gamecocks (10-9, 0-5) took care of the ball, they got good shots, but all those empty late possessions (mostly forced by the Gators) allowed UF to erase a 52-38 deficit with 12 to go and outscore the home team 32-17 the rest of the way.
"You played well enough to win the game and you just didn't allow yourself to bring the ship all the way in," USC coach Lamont Paris said after dropping his sixth SEC in as many tries. "That was a little disappointing ... understatement of the new 2025 year right there."
And, from the other side, it's invigorating to come up with such a thrilling victory after playing the first three quarters poor enough to lose.
"We were just waiting on them to make a couple mistakes and us to make a couple plays," said Clayton, who dropped a pair of a 3-pointers, giving him at least one in 42 consecutive games, breaking the record of 41 he held with Michael Frazier II (2012-15). "It ended up being what it was, with the 1-2-2 [zone]. You could say we got a little energy after that and went on a run."
The Gamecocks (10-9, 0-6) were the more physical team from the jump, scoring the game's first five points and inching their lead out, with Murray-Boyles (14 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), a projected first-round NBA pick this summer, and Alabama transfer Nick Pringle (8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) having their way in the post against the UF bigs. When Murray-Boyles and Pringle weren't bodying their way to layups, they were finding open teammates on the perimeter and USC was making shots; 50 percent in the first half to go to the locker room up 41-33 after UF's second lowest-scoring half of the season.
The first 10 minutes out of intermission weren't much different.
"I thought we started playing better in the second half," Golden said. "We just weren't making any shots."
South Carolina still was. The lead was 13 when UF fell into its full-court press and got steals and run-out layups (two from Richard) on three of four possessions to trail 58-51 and force Paris to call a timeout.
Will Richard (5) had it going from inside and outside at Columbia.
"Defense leads to offense," Condon said. "Once we sorted that out it was key for us. Credit to all our guys. They were pressing up really hard and I was doing my best to take away the long pass. It all worked out pretty well."
The Gamecocks, though, appeared to have settled in when Ugusuk (9 points, 6 rebounds) hit a corner 3 to go up nine with 6:34 to go. But Martin answered Ugusuk's shot with a 3 and, after a stop, Clayton hit two free throws to draw within four. Boyles-Murray hit one of two free throws, but Martin got an old-time 3-point play at UF's end to make it 62-60.
Back came Ugusuk with another 3-ball, which Clayton cancelled out with his second to make 65-63 inside two minutes. At the Gamecocks' end, the Gators defended well enough to force a late-clock 3 from Zachary Davis, who led his team with 22 points. Davis' banked the shot in and blew the roof off the arena, putting the home team up five with 1:14. UF called a timeout.
In his huddle, Golden drew up a play that got Richard open in the corner in front of the UF bench. Clayton delivered a perfect skip pass behind the USC defense and Richard nailed a 3 to close his team to 68-66 with 1:04 left. Another timeout, Gators.
This time, Martin swiped the inbound pass to UF forward
Thomas Haugh, who dumped the ball back to Martin. His drive to the paint drew a foul that netted two clutch free throws and a tie score at 68.
Sophomore forward Thomas Haugh (10) was a menace on the ball in UF's full-court pressure.
At South Carolina's end, Davis was fouled driving to the basket and went to the line for two free throws with 17.3 seconds remaining. He missed the first, made the second, but left the door open for the Gators, now down just a point, 69-68.
Golden bypassed the timeout and waved Clayton to go.
"We just had to get a good shot up," Clayton said
Clayton thought he might be the one taking that shot until he saw the 6-9 Pringle up high and hedging. Richard was being guarded by the smaller Ugusuk at the top of the the key. Clayton threw him the ball. Richard attacked down the left side of the paint, got a tremendous, path-clearing seal in the post from Condon and banked the ball left-handed off the glass and through the cup.
"I saw the [defender] close-out a little hard and I went," Richard said. "Condon did a great job of ducking in and I just had to do a great job of finishing it."
The basket gave Richard 1,000 career points as a Gator, the 56th player in Florida history to hit that milestone.
Oh, and it was also Florida's only lead of the game after South Carolina controlled the scoreboard for 38 minutes, 33 seconds.
"We needed a spark," said Richard, who scored 14 and had all three of his steals in the second half. "That was a good, resilient win."
A fairly improbable one, too.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
