Martin: Florida’s experience creates new challenges for young South Carolina team
When you beat the 17th-best team in the country on your home floor, a measure of celebration is warranted.
But the South Carolina men’s basketball team won’t have much time to enjoy its stunning upset over Kentucky, now ranked No. 25.
The Gamecocks will have to face the nation’s No. 1 team Tuesday night when the Florida Gators come to town.
“Our fans expect us to line up and beat the No. 1 team in the country on Tuesday,” coach Frank Martin said. “I’ve got a job to do. I’ve got time to enjoy, and all this stuff, and celebrate the growth of our program come April.”
As Martin has made clear, South Carolina can’t afford to walk into the matchup with Florida with an inflated ego after the Gamecocks secured the upset over Kentucky.
The Gators are ranked No. 1 in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll behind a 27-2 record. The only school that has amassed a better record than Florida is the second-ranked Wichita State Shockers of the Missouri Valley Conference, who sit at 31-0.
Florida’s rise to the top of the rankings has been far from the norm in college basketball’s current format. With so many schools funneling athletes through their programs and off to the NBA in one year, the Gators have seven players on their roster that are either seniors or juniors. The Gamecocks have only three players with that level of experience.
“I’ll be glued to that computer trying to figure out a way to deal with those 23-year-olds Florida has that never make mistakes,” Martin said. “So we can be a little more productive than the last time we played.”
While Saturday’s thrilling win carries plenty of weight, Kentucky was reeling heading into that contest. The Wildcats had lost their second-straight overtime matchup with Arkansas the Thursday before, and they were 2-2 in their last four games before colliding with the Gamecocks.
Florida has not lost since Dec. 2, when the Gators fell to the Connecticut Huskies by a single point in nonconference play. Florida’s only other defeat came against a Wisconsin team that hadn’t lost a game yet when the two teams met.
South Carolina’s lone senior, guard Brenton Williams, scored a team-high 24 points in the Gamecocks’ last time out and said a supportive student section played a major role in Saturday’s upset. When Williams plays his final game at Colonial Life Arena Tuesday night, he says fan support will be crucial if South Carolina hopes to topple No. 1.
“The atmosphere (Saturday) was incredible, and that was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played in since I’ve been here at USC,” Williams said. “The crowd stayed loud the entire game.”
Williams’ legacy at South Carolina will be the part he played as the bridge between the old regime and the new in the basketball program, helping usher in the Frank Martin era in his junior and senior seasons after playing his first two years under Darrin Horn.
The two-game stretch that the Gamecocks are currently in the middle of is without question the most difficult portion of their schedule this year. With two top-25 teams coming to town in the span of four days, South Carolina has already passed its first of the two tests by stunning Kentucky.
Come 7:00 p.m. Tuesday night, with the nation watching on ESPNU, it will be Martin and his team’s job to make lightning strike twice when they take on the No. 1 Gators.
“Our game (Saturday) and our game on Tuesday have been the two most dominant programs in the SEC for how many years now?” Martin said. “That’s who we need to compete with to be the program that we’re working to be.”