Gamecocks Run Out of Arena By Florida Gators

The South Carolina men's basketball team's slow offensive start was followed by a second-half meltdown against the Florida Gators, as they lost 81-60.

The South Carolina Gamecocks were heading into Wednesday night on a three-game losing skid which led to Lamont Paris making some strategic changes, including going to more of a small ball lineup. The execution of this plan, however, didn't pan out from the early onset of the game.

Colin Castleton, the Gators' best player on the team, had a field day near the rim at the beginning of the contest, getting three baskets either near or inside the paint within the first three minutes of the game, taking advantage of his size compared to Hayden Brown. Life wouldn't get much easier for Brown on the offensive end, as he would rack up two fouls in just the first five and a half minutes and his third foul just 33 seconds after being subbed back into the game halfway through the period.

Combine this with South Carolina's inability to hold onto the basketball and their inconsistency in shooting outside of GG Jackson and Josh Gray. The Gamecocks found themselves down eight heading into the break.

Everything began to go awry in the second half for the Gamecocks on both sides of the floor. Offensively, South Carolina struggled to establish any kind of rhythm as no one could create hardly any good shot opportunities. On the other end, Florida shot 48.6 percent from the floor in the second half. They broke down the Gamecocks' 1-3-1 zone defense and got relatively easy drives to the basket, which created opportunities for the Gators' front court and chances to go to the foul line.

In the process of the game getting out of hand, Hayden received his fourth and fifth fouls within the first eight minutes of the period, which led to Brown fouling out of the contest after just nine collective minutes on the floor. At the 10:14 mark, freshman guard Zachary Davis suffered a flagrant two-foul for hitting a Gator player in the mouth after it appeared his arm was being held during a rebound attempt which turned into an offensive putback by Josh Gray.

Davis' foul will likely be reviewed by the league office and the NCAA to see if any additional suspension will be tacked onto the flagrant two foul he received on Thursday night. South Carolina will take the court again on Saturday night when they play the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens.

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