South Carolina turned in one of its best defensive showings in the Sweet 16 win over Baylor, and the Gamecocks will likely need a repeat performance Sunday against Florida, as the Gators boast a strong defense of their own.
Having split the regular season series, these teams know how tough it will be to get points on the board Sunday, which players and coaches from both teams stressed Saturday. Baskets were especially hard to come by for both teams in their first meeting, as the game was scoreless through more than four minutes.
Florida has been playing without rim protector John Egbunu for well over a month now (torn ACL), but the Gators haven’t skipped a beat on defense, plugging Kevarrius Hayes into the starting lineup, and continuing to fluster their opponents. Hayes doesn’t quite have the Egbunu’s size, but he adds athleticism to an already speedy lineup.
Without the dominant presence of Egbunu, the Gators rely on quickness and length on the defensive end, as starters Devin Robinson and Justin Leon join Hayes to give Florida three starters 6-foot-8 or taller. After having success against Baylor’s dominant big man Johnathan Motley, Maik Kotsar said South Carolina would have a different challenge with the Gators’ frontcourt.
“With Motley we just had to deny him getting low touches in the paint… Florida definitely has some big guys that can shoot, so we have to play on the perimeter a lot of times, me and Chris,” Kotsar said Saturday. “A lot of times they go to a small lineup and we have to be ready. We have to defend like the guards do.”
Despite his size, Leon certainly shoots like a guard, leading the Gators by knocking down a 40.4 percent clip from beyond the arc. Robinson isn’t far behind, knocking down 39.3 percent of his threes.
Outside shooting was one of the clear differences for Florida between the loss in Columbia and the win in Gainesville. The Gators were unable to connect from deep in Colonial Life Arena, missing 17 threes, but they shot 9-of-19 from behind the line against the Gamecocks the second time around.
“That’s the main thing: to limit them in transition and to get them off the 3-point line,” Duane Notice said Saturday. “Last time we played them, we had a chance to win, but we kinda just fell short. Guys were in foul trouble, we weren’t really locked in, that’s when we were kinda slipping on the defensive end as a team. But right now we’re in a great space, we’re going every day, and we’re confident about the game tomorrow.”
Notice has reason to be particularly confident, as he’s demonstrated his defensive prowess throughout the season. The senior guard was part of a defensive effort that held Florida’s leading scorer KeVaughn Allen to just one point in Columbia this season, and that wasn’t a fluke. In Friday’s win over Baylor, Notice took on Manu Lecomte, the Bears’ second-leading scorer, holding him to just eight points on 11 shots. There was clear frustration for Baylor on the offensive end, something Florida head coach Mike White has experienced himself.
“You can’t run an offense against South Carolina,” White said. “You just can’t.”
On the other end, Florida has confidence in its defense as well, particularly after holding Virginia to just 39 points in the Round of 32. Frank Martin compared the Gator defense to that of the Gamecocks particularly when it comes to athleticism and switching.
“We're constantly rotating, constantly talking,” Martin said of his own defense. “But Florida's very similar. Different techniques, they switch a lot, they use an unbelievable size that they have to their advantage. They don't get out and deny as aggressively as we do. But the end result is pretty — different ways of doing things to get the same kind of result.”
The result? Not just defensive dominance Sunday, but a Final Four appearance, which would be the first in program history for the Gamecocks. Not so much for the Gators, as Florida could play in its fourth Final Four since 2006 and is making its seventh Elite Eight appearance in that same span.
Kasey Hill is the only player left from the Gators’ 2014 Final Four run, giving him a bit of wisdom about staying in the moment, as he put it, while Martin has the advantage over White as far as postseason coaching experience. Both teams insist that it’s just another game, and it’s yet to be seen how either will handle the pressure, but it’s safe to assume we’ll be treated to another defensive battle between two hard-nosed SEC squads.