FINAL: No. 3 Florida 88, South Carolina 67

What Happened

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Junior guard Denzel Aberdeen and sophomore forward Thomas Haugh each had career-best scoring nights to lead the third-ranked and short-handed Florida Gators to an 88-67 victory over South Carolina in their Southeastern Conference game Saturday night at sold-out Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.

Aberdeen, making his fourth consecutive start, scored 22 points by hitting eight of 12 shots from the floor and dropping a career-high five 3s on seven attempts over 30 minutes. Haugh, making his first career start with forward Alex Condon sidelined by an ankle injury suffered early in Tuesday night's win at Mississippi State, finished with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. had 10 points, four rebounds and eight assists, while sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu posted his second straight double-figure scoring game of 10 points to go with six rebounds.

The win was UF's fourth straight.

The Gators had to shake a sub-standard first half -- they led by just four at intermission against a Gamecocks team that was winless in SEC play -- by shooting 70.4 percent and dropping eight 3s after intermission. They did it minus Condon and backup forward Sam Alexis (ankle), but welcomed fifth-year guard Alijah Martin back into the rotation after he missed the previous two games with a hip pointer, and 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten in his first action since breaking his leg last March 17 in the SEC Tournament. Martin, the team's second-leading scorer, finished with 11 points and three assists in 24 minutes. Handlogten had two points, three rebounds, a career-high five assists, two steals and two blocks in 20 minutes.

Both teams were red-hot to start, with the Gamecocks at 75 percent through the first 12-plus minutes and the Gators at 65 percent. USC led 31-30 inside five minutes to go, but UF scored seven of the last nine points of the period to take a 37-33 lead into halftime.

The second-half blowout was instantaneous. UF hit back-to-back 3s to start to go up by double digits and led by 15 at the first media timeout. USC scored six straight points to cut the lead to nine, but Florida's answer was five consecutive 3s; three by Aberdeen and one each from Martin and Haugh. The lead was 22 and got as high as 25, thanks to making 19 of 27 in the period and eight of 14 (57 percent) from the arc.

UF forward Thomas Haugh (10) launches a 3-pointer Saturday night.

What it Means

Earlier Saturday, the NCAA's bracket reveal put the Gators as the fourth No. 1 seed in the 68-team tournament field, one of three SEC teams (along with Auburn and Alabama) assigned 1-seeds. For that to happen, Florida needs to stack wins -- like this one -- in the home stretch of the season, starting with this four-game run against the bottom four teams in the league. One down (South Carolina), three to go (Oklahoma, at LSU, at Georgia). Doing so minus Condon, the team's best "big" (for however long that might be), won't be easy, but that's where the Gators are. As far as their place in the SEC standings, UF sits in a two-way tie for third place (with Texas A&M), one game behind second-place Alabama, two behind front-running Auburn.

In the Spotlight

Imagine Micah's emotions the last two days.

Staggering Statistic

Florida has 85 assists and 51 made 3-pointers over the last four games. Those are truly staggeringly efficient numbers.

Up Next

Florida (22-3, 9-3) is back home for a second straight game Tuesday night when the Gators face Oklahoma (16-9, 3-9). The Sooners were beaten 82-79 earlier Saturday at home by LSU, which got just its second conference win. The Gamecocks' (10-15, 0-12) will look for their first league win Tuesday at Baton Rouge.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu

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