Gators get first SEC win over South Carolina, 71-63

The Gators men’s basketball team earned its first SEC victory of the season Saturday with a 71-63 win at South Carolina. 

That snaps a three-game losing streak for Florida, now 1-3 in conference play and 10-6 overall.

“In the locker room we enjoyed the win,” UF coach Mike White said. “Road wins are hard to come by in this league, in 2021 especially. South Carolina’s going to win a bunch of games.”

White trotted out a different starting lineup as guards Tyree Appleby and Myreon Jones both came off the bench, a first for Jones this season. 

It was an impressive offensive performance from the Gators, who shot 55.1 percent and were able to find open looks all over the court. 

Players who stepped up for Florida

Florida guards Phlandrous Fleming Jr. and Kowacie Reeves stole the show in this one as both earned a starting spot.

Fleming Jr. finished with a team-high 14 points on 6-11 shooting, including a pair of treys. He found a way to do a little bit of everything, adding one steal, one block and three rebounds.

“He’s always going to play really hard, Phlan is. He’s ultra-competitive. He’s just getting more mature,” White said.

Reeves had himself quite a day as well. The freshman also scored 14 points, setting a new career-high. He sealed the deal when he saved a ball from going out of bounds with over 30 seconds remaining, keeping possession for Florida.

“My guy just so happened to leak out and not box me out, and then the ball just landed. It was about to go out of bounds, but I just went and pursued the ball just to try to help my team win,” Reeves said. 

Forward Colin Castleton had himself a big day as well. He finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and eight blocks, matching his career high. That marks his seventh career game with five-plus blocks.

“Colin, despite the lack of touches, was just terrific defensively,” White said. 

What went right for the Gators

Finding open looks was not a problem for the Gators, which led to their success from the field. White stuck with his adjustment from the LSU game to let guard Brandon McKissic run the floor, and that decision paid off Saturday. 

The Gators finished with 17 assists as a team, their third-highest total of the season. McKissic had four of those, including an alley-oop to C.J. Felder, while Appleby led the team with six dishes. 

“I thought we moved the ball well,” White said. “Overall, especially in the first 20 to 30, I thought we played with a lot of confidence offensively. We moved pretty well, we shot it with more confidence, we thought about the result a little bit less. That’s how you’ve got to play.” 

What the Gators can improve on

The Gators’ win was impressive, but they have a couple areas to improve on moving forward with their SEC schedule.

UF was outrebounded on the glass (35-38) and South Carolina finished with 21 offensive boards. Another number that sticks out is Florida’s 15 turnovers compared to the Gamecocks’ nine. 

“Didn’t do a good enough job on the glass, but easier said than done blocking out these guys the way that they come at you in waves on the offensive glass,” White said. “We had some really good passes to one another but we also had some ill-advised passes. We had a couple of jump passes that resulted in transition defense of course. We didn’t do a good job of flattening the defense late in the clock, getting Castleton some touches.” 

The Gators face another tough test Wednesday night when they host Mississippi State (11-4, 2-1) at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.