GAME NOTES: Fresh off perhaps their most important victory of the season, the 17th-ranked Florida Gators are set to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in SEC action this evening.
The Gainesville crowd was treated to a thrill on Saturday, as Florida edged Kentucky in a 70-68 final. That win was the fourth in the last five outings for the Gators, who are 18-5 overall and 7-2 in league play, good for sole possession of first place in the SEC Eastern Division standings.
The Gainesville crowd was treated to a thrill on Saturday, as Florida edged Kentucky in a 70-68 final. That win was the fourth in the last five outings for the Gators, who are 18-5 overall and 7-2 in league play, good for sole possession of first place in the SEC Eastern Division standings.
As for South Carolina, it has suffered losses in three of the last four outings to drop to a mediocre 4-4 in SEC play, overshadowing a 13-8 overall record. Last Saturday, the Gamecocks fell to Vanderbilt on the road in a 78-60 final.
Florida owns a 36-22 advantage in the all-time series with South Carolina, but the Gamecocks beat the Gators in Gainesville last month, 72-69.
A major reason for the success this Florida team has achieved thus far is the amount of experienced talent in the lineup. Erving Walker leads the squad with 14.2 ppg, and Kenny Boynton checks in with 13.0 ppg. Vernon Macklin provides 11.1 ppg and 6.1 rpg, while Chandler Parsons adds 11.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg. The Gators are generating 71.0 ppg while playing tremendous team defense, limiting foes to 61.9 ppg on 41.3 percent field goal efficiency. Also worthy of mention is the fact that Florida is outrebounding teams by 6.7 rpg.
Against Kentucky on Saturday, Parsons came through with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Boynton netted 12 points. The Gators committed only nine turnovers and earned an 18-11 edge in points from the foul line, two major factors in the narrow triumph.
South Carolina is scoring 70.3 ppg through 21 outings on just 41.5 percent shooting form the floor, but the club is holding opponents to 68.2 ppg on 41.3 percent field goal efficiency. Bruce Ellington leads the club with 14.4 ppg thus far, but he is shooting a lowly 36.1 percent from the field. Sam Muldrow provides 10.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 73 blocks for the Gamecocks, who are also getting 10.8 ppg form Ramon Galloway. Galloway tallied 16 points against Vanderbilt on Saturday, and Ellington added 13 points. Still, Ellington's 4- of-17 shooting effort from the floor was far from impressive. Muldrow managed 11 points and Malik Cooke chipped in 12 points off the bench for South Carolina, which yielded 50.9 percent shooting to the Commodores.
Florida is the better of these two teams despite the earlier loss to the Gamecocks. Expect the Gators to avoid the season sweep.
