Feb. 9, 2011

Final Stats | Quotes | Notes

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Three Gamecocks hit double digits, but hot shooting and a quick start by No. 17 Florida gave the Gators the 79-60 victory Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena. Florida’s Erving Walker scored a season-high 25 points as only six Gators scored in the contest.

Florida remains in the SEC East lead with an 8-2 conference record (19-5 overall). South Carolina drops to 13-9 and 4-5 in SEC action.

The nation’s second-ranked blocking team with 6.8 blocks per game was held to just two rejections in the game, both coming from senior forward Sam Muldrow.

Muldrow continued to inch closer to the school’s all-time blocks record after getting two blocks in the game. Muldrow, who now has 247 career blocks, is now only three blocks shy of the school record held by Brandon Wallace.

Florida jumped out to a 9-0 lead as South Carolina started the game cold on an 0-for-8 effort from the field. It wasn’t until Galloway rattled off seven consecutive points in a span of 78 seconds – beginning with his 3 at 14:30 – that the Gamecocks began to turn it into a typical South Carolina-Florida matchup. However, with the previous five games between the teams being decided by 15 points total, the Gators were able to earn the double-digit victory Wednesday night.

The Florida lead swelled to 19 early in the second half before Bryan Richardson helped cut the deficit with two consecutive 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough as Florida held on to its lead for the victory.

South Carolina returns to action Saturday at 4 p.m. when the team hosts Georgia at Colonial Life Arena for a game that will be broadcast on the SEC Network.