How South Carolina went to Gainesville and upset No. 22 Florida
Frank Martin’s South Carolina basketball team has its signature win.
On the road against No. 22 Florida, coming off an ugly, turnover-filled loss at last-place Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks found an extra gear Wednesday against the red-hot Gators, taking down Mike White’s team, 72-66.
In a season defined by three separate COVID-19 pauses and streaky on-court performance, the Gamecocks played perhaps their best game of the season.
The lead changed hands 12 times, but USC went on a 13-3 run in the game’s final seven minutes to seal its first road win and first ranked win of the season.
“It just proves that we have fight in us,” leading scorer A.J. Lawson said after the game. “If we keep doing this, building as a team and playing together, we can have good hopes for our team.”
The win marks the third straight time USC has defeated Florida in Gainesville.
“I don’t have an answer why we have the ability to come in here and win and we can’t win at Vanderbilt,” said head coach Frank Martin, whose Gamecocks gave Vandy its first SEC win of the season.
The Gamecocks (5-6, 3-4 SEC)played a sharper brand of basketball than they played in Nashville, finding more connectivity in Martin’s new defensive scheme. They held the high-powered Gators scoreless for the last two minutes of the game.
Martin has insisted throughout the season that talent has never been the issue for USC. In brief flashes throughout this sporadic season, the Gamecocks have shown they can play with anyone. They held halftime leads on the road against a top 10 Houston team and an explosive LSU club.
But before Wednesday night, South Carolina had lacked the needed oomph to finish — to deal the final blow.
“The talent on our team is good enough for us to win games,” Martin said. “We just got to find that consistency and create that personality that we’ve lacked. We lacked it before we got shut down, and we’ve lacked it since. But we’re starting to see some moments where we show it.
“Getting this win makes us feel good, so we can figure out a way to keep that hope and that feel-good mentality that allows you to come back and do it again tomorrow. “
3 Observations from USC-Florida
1. Cleaner point guard play
After 16 turnovers at Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks did a much better job of holding onto the basketball against the Gators. Martin warned before the game that USC couldn’t win if it fed Florida’s fast-break offense.
Starting point guard Seventh Woods, coming off a five-turnover game, committed just one turnover against Florida and showcased an improved scoring touch near the basket.
He set a new season high with 12 points, added two steals, an assist and four rebounds, and he showed poise and command of the offense in the second half. Martin had said this week that he liked Woods’ “more aggressive” mentality but needed to see his turnovers come down, and Woods responded with his best game as a Gamecock.
A native of Columbia, Woods is starting to play with more of the energy he showed when he played at the Hammond School.
“We didn’t bring Seventh home to just kind of let him out to pasture in South Carolina,” Martin said. “We brought him home to make him feel good about himself. We brought him home to give him a chance to compete. And that’s the journey that we’re on.
“Seeing him play with that aggression — that’s the stuff I saw from him at Hammond. I used to tell him when I was recruiting him, I said, ‘You ever give me the chance, man, I’m gonna be on you every day to pull that out of you every single day.’ And he’s been playing more aggressive and more aggressive and more aggressive, and it’s fun to watch.”
Martin praised Woods’ defensive work on Florida guard Tre Mann and his effort on the middle of the floor. Woods played with the kind of veteran steadiness the Gamecocks have been yearning for at the point.
“Everything starts with your point guard,” Martin said. “When your point guard plays well defensively, when your point guard plays aggressively on offense, it gives your team a chance.”
2. The battle inside the paint
With South Carolina junior big man Alanzo Frink out for the season, the Gamecocks are thin and inexperienced inside, and most SEC opponents have schemed around that weakness.
Florida was no exception, as the team leaned on 6-foot-11 junior forward Colin Castleton to wreak havoc in the post. Castleton tallied a whopping seven blocks against the Gamecocks and scored double-digit points on the other end.
However, the Gamecocks made a concerted effort to drive the ball inside in the second half after the team finished the first half missing 10 of 11 3-point attempts. Martin said at one point he counted 10 consecutive possessions in the first half where the ball never touched the paint.
With the Gators employing more of a zone defense, the USC guards used their quickness to cut toward the basket and score layups. Even with Florida blocking double-digit shots, the Gamecocks scored 50 of their 72 points in the paint.
“First half, we realized we were shooting a lot of threes and one-pass shots, so second half we ended up being aggressive trying to attack the hole,” Lawson said. “And that ended up working out for us. We were driving, making good passes and things were falling in the second half. And it just boosted our confidence.”
3. Offense flows through Lawson
In a season defined by uncertainty, Lawson has been one of USC’s lone constants. The team’s leading scorer entering the night with 17.2 points per game, Lawson almost single-handedly kept the team afloat in the middle of the contest before the likes of Woods and Keyshawn Bryant found their footing offensively.
Lawson finished with 22 points and six rebounds on 9-of-16 shooting.
Next USC basketball game
Who: South Carolina (5-6, 3-4 SEC) vs. Mississippi State (10-9, 4-6)
Where: Colonial Life Arena
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 8:31 PM.
