After hanging around early in the second half, the South Carolina Gamecocks were not able to shut down the Florida offense that exploded for 46 second-half points to win 81-66 in Gainesville Tuesday.
The defeat is the Gamecocks' fourth in their last five.
The Gamecocks kept pace with Florida in the early stages until senior guard Sindarius Thornwell was taken out after picking up a second foul. The Gators took advantage of his absence, going on a 9-0 run. They led by as many as 12 points during the first period before Thornwell helped get the Gamecocks' offense going. Thornwell and Duane Notice finished the half strong, sparking a 17-2 run to give USC a brief lead with a minute remaining. Florida then responded with a quick 5-0 spurt to give them a two-point halftime lead.
In the first two minutes of the second half, Chris Silva picked up his third foul and was sent to the bench. That opened up the paint for Florida to exploit. The Gators scored their next 10 points down low and at the foul line to get an eight-point lead through the first five minutes of the half. South Carolina responded to bring it back to two, but the same events happened all over again. The Gators used the three-point shot and foul line to take a 10-point lead midway through the second.
It was that way for the majority of the second half. Thornwell would bring the Gamecocks within a few possessions, and Florida would respond with a three. The Gators caught fire from beyond the arc in the second half, hitting five of their first eight shots from deep. They also shot well from the charity stripe, hitting 14-16 free throws in the second half.
Heading into the final five minutes, the Gamecocks were down 12. KeVaughn Allen was fouled shooting a three-pointer and hit all three free throws to give the Gators a 15-point lead with under five minutes remaining. The Gators controlled it from there, picking up the win 81-66.
South Carolina had no answer for Allen. The sophomore guard scored 26 points, his second highest output on the year. He only took seven shots, hitting five including three from beyond the arc. He did most of his damage from the foul line, hitting 13-of-14 shots. Florida’s leading scorer on the year, Canyon Barry, was held scoreless, but the Gators got plenty of production from the rest of the team. Four Gators were in double-figures as Devin Robinson scored 14, Chris Chiozza had 12 and Kasey Hill chipped in with 10. The Gators shot 49 percent from the floor and were 9-of-19 from three after hitting 6-of-9 in the second half. They also shot 22-of-27 from the foul line.
The Gamecocks were led by Thornwell who scored 23, hitting all 11 of his free throw attempts. Notice added 16 points. Those were the only two in double figures as P.J. Dozier finished with eight and Silva fouled out with eight in the final minute. The Gamecocks shot 39 percent from the floor and were 19-of-22 from the foul line. They only managed to shoot 3-of-14 from three.
Next up for the Gamecocks is an in-conference home game versus the Tennessee Volunteers at 1 p.m. Saturday.