UF rediscovered its mojo in Saturday’s lopsided home handling of Texas to get back on the winning track. The fifth-ranked Gators (16-2, 3-2) played hard, fast and with purpose, and nothing but a similar combination will do when they square off against South Carolina (10-8, 0-5) and their blacked-out crowd Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena, where the reception figures to be chillier than the sub-freezing temperatures (and two inches of snow) that greeted the team on arrival Tuesday.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry‘s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
That the Gamecocks are winless in Southeastern Conference play should be a flashing-red hazard beacon.
“They’re going to be super-desperate,” UF fifth-year guard Alijah Martin said.
Which means the Gators need to be super-duper-desperate.
UF coach Todd Golden goes into every game looking to take care of the ball, rebound and defend, but he also talks about doing the things that don’t take talent. Basically, that means effort.
The Gamecocks, a team that won 26 games last season and went to the NCAA Tournament, may have opened the 2025 league season with five losses, but they’re a physical and prideful bunch that figures to be lying in wait for a chance to get a top-five team on the home floor.
The situation is not completely unlike what the Gators faced 10 days ago, coming off a 30-point massacre of top-ranked Tennessee, when they went to Arkansas, an opponent off to a tough start in league play and feeling pretty good about themselves. UF weathered a couple early blows, eventually took control of the game and got a nice road win.
South Carolina, knowing what Mizzou did to the Gators on their home floor eight days ago, will come out swinging with its home crowd as a backdrop. Golden didn’t have the Mizzou letdown as a point of reference for his last road test. He does now.
“It’s easier to sell after you lose,” Golden said. “Human nature. Consistency. The longevity of the season. You’re going to have some ups and downs. We didn’t handle it as well as we could have last week, [but] I think we did a good job [against Texas] and I think we’ll do a good job moving forward. Our guys understand you have to play close to perfect to win in this league, and for us to finish where we want. We just can’t have any setbacks that are unexpected.”
The Gamecocks have lost by 35 (at Mississippi State), and twice by 20 (here against Alabama and over the weekend at Oklahoma). In conference play, they rate last in scoring (61.2 points per game) and scoring margin (minus-16.2). They’re 14th in offensive field-goal percentage (.391), last in defensive field-goal percentage (.509) and last in turnover margin (minus-5.6).
But USC gave Auburn (at home) and Vanderbilt (on the road) fits before falling by identical scores of 66-63 in both games. Auburn is currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Vandy is 15-3 and tied with UF for fifth place in the SEC standings.
The Gamecocks who showed up for those last two games, led by 6-foot-8, 245-pound standout forward Collin Murray-Boyles (15.4 points, 9.2 rebounds), are who the Gators need to expect for their game.
“We cannot go there and expect to just play a game for 40 minutes and come out victorious. They’re going to be geared up and ready to go,” Golden said of an opponent who defeated 25th-ranked Clemson at home earlier this season and last year rapped the Gators in mouth with a second-half come-from-behind win after trailing by 11. “I think them beating us at their place last year will give them some confidence, [so] we’ll have to go up there and be really competitive.”
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
