GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) – South Carolina coach Frank Martin was beside himself as he counted 10 consecutive possessions in the first half when the ball did not touch the painting. Turnovers. Offensive fouls. Long-range shots.
Martin emphasized the break and his players responded better than expected.
AJ Lawson scored 22 points, Seventh Woods added 12 and the Gamecocks won No. 22 Florida 72-66 on Wednesday night, potentially making the Gators’ return to the rankings brief.
Keyshawn Bryant scored eight points for the Gamecocks, including six in a decisive 13-1 run in the final 6:37 am to close the game. This outbreak turned a six-point deficit into an unlikely victory.
Bryant scored on two dunks and a putback, a microcosm of Florida’s problems all night. South Carolina (5-6, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) dominated the Gators (10-5, 6-4) from the inside, overtaking them by 50-30 in the painting and obtaining 13 offensive rebounds. Much of that damage came after the break.
“You need to do 3s to win, but whoever wins the fight for ink still wins the game,” said Martin. “3s are for fans and statistics and for all the people who sit and say it’s a beautiful game when it’s played that way. I don’t disagree. I wish we could do 15, 16 3s in one game.
“But at the end of the day, if you want to win, you better put the ball in the painting.”
Florida was playing its first game as a qualifying team in more than 14 months. The Gators entered the Top 25 after winning four in a row, including wins against No. 6 Tennessee and No. 11 West Virginia.
But they were nothing like the same team against Martin’s difficult and disconnected group that dealt with the problems of COVID-19 for much of the season.
“Each one hurts. This hurts more because I feel like we’ve given up, ”said point guard Tre Mann, who led Florida with 17 points and eight rebounds. “They came and punched us in the mouth. We just lay down. So, yes, this hurts a lot. “
Mann was not yet done with his team’s effort, which happened hours after Florida striker Keyontae Johnson was discarded for the season, almost two months after he passed out on the court in the state of Florida. The Gators renewed their attack without the SEC’s pre-season player of the year and finally began to find their balance.
“It has been difficult for us this year. Every time we get a little bit of success, we tend to go out and play badly and lose focus, ”said Mann. “I feel like this is what happened again tonight. We just weren’t focused. They came out hungry and just beat us. “
Gamecocks hit the ball early and often, so many times that Florida ended the game with 12 blocks. But the strategy worked, since Lawson hit 9 of 16 shots and eight rebounds. Bryant added seven plates.
Noah Locke had three points out of 3 for Florida and finished with 15 points. Colin Castleton scored 11 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks, his fourth game with at least five blocks in the last six games. But Castleton and his companion Omar Payne were brought up in and around the edge.
“It just proved that we had a fight inside us,” said Lawson.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The Gamecocks won for the first time in five attempts away from home. But they have no gimmes on the stretch with road games remaining against Tennessee, the state of Mississippi and Georgia. Each of these teams has at least eight wins at home.
Florida: The Gators have released all the confidence and momentum they have built up over the past two weeks. And their schedule gets tough from here, with the upcoming road games against LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas.
NEXT
South Carolina: receives the state of Mississippi on Saturday, the first of three in a row at home.
Florida: Plays at LSU on Saturday, starting a stretch of three of four on the road.
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