No. 18/18 South Carolina Host No. 24/24 Florida Saturday at High Noon

­­­­COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 18/18 South Carolina (22-5, 10-4 SEC) returns to Colonial Life Arena for its final two home games of the 2023-24 regular season starting Saturday. The Gamecocks welcome in No. 24/24 Florida (20-8, 10-5 SEC) for a pivotal matchup with SEC title race and top-four seeding implications for the upcoming SEC tournament on the line.

Tip-off is slated for 12 p.m. (ET) in a game that will be simulcast on ESPN and SEC Network. Tom Hart (pxp) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) will be on the call for the top-25 battle. It’s the first matchup of top-25 teams at CLA since both programs squared off in January of 2017, a 57-53 win by the Gamecocks over the Gators.

Carolina is facing another top rebounding team tomorrow, as Florida leads the nation in rebounds per game (43.7). The Gators are second behind only Texas A&M in offensive rebounds per game at 15.8.

Florida’s up-tempo offense averages 84.7 points per game, which is third in the SEC and ninth nationally. The Gators also sit inside the top-20 in free throw attempts per game (16^th, 23.9) and blocks per game (12^th, 5.3).

Iona transfer Walter Clayton Jr. leads the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game. UC Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin averages 15.3 points per contest and 4.9 assist per game, which is second in the SEC. Seton Hall grad transfer Tyreese Samuel averages 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. His 57.2 field goal percentage is tops in the SEC (min 5 made FGs per game). Belmont transfer Will Richard also averages double figures at 11.4 points per game.

Head coach Todd Golden is also in his second season leading the Gators with a similar record to Lamont Paris at 36-25. Paris is 34-26 in year two in Columbia.

He’s helped engineer the best single-season turnaround in program history as South Carolina has improved its win total 12 games this season, which surpasses the 11-win turnaround under Dave Odom from 2002-03 to 2003-04.

The Gamecocks won the team’s 23^rd game of the season on Wednesday at Texas A&M. The 23 wins are T-6^th most in program history with the 1970-71, 1997-98, 2003-04, 2005-06 teams. The team’s 11 SEC wins are T-3^rd most all-time at Carolina. Another SEC win will match the 2016-17 team for the second most all-time in program history.

VENUE: Colonial Life Arena

BROADCAST: ESPN/SEC Network

PLAY-BY-PLAY: Tom Hart

ANALYST: Jimmy Dykes

RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network  

IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game

  PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott

  ANALYST: Casey Manning

SIRIUSXM: 106 or 190 | SXM APP: 961

WATCH: espn.com/watch

LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast

SERIES: Gators lead, 48-28

IN COLUMBIA: Gators lead, 24-15

SERIES TREND: Gators have won two-straight but teams have split the last 10 meetings.

LAST MEETING: 81-60 Gators win on Jan. 25, 2023 in Gainesville.

UP NEXT

Carolina remains home for another top-25 matchup against the No. 4/4 Tennessee Volunteers (22-6, 12-3 SEC) on Wednesday night. Tom Hart (pxp) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) will be on the call again for the ESPN2 broadcast. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. (ET) with doors opening 1 hour prior.

###