Five things we learned from South Carolina's latest loss to Florida

The energy in the building was palpable. Even for a team on a five-game losing streak, on top of the cold and snowy winter weather outside, a good crowd still showed up to Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday. But even that couldn’t change South Carolina’s misfortunes.

The Gamecocks (10-9, 0-6 SEC) held a 14-point lead with 12 minutes to go against No. 5 Florida. It looked like an upset was going to happen in Columbia, on the eve of South Carolina’s last court storming after beating Kentucky last season.

Instead, the Gators came all the way back and won 70-69 on a go-ahead layup by Will Richard with five seconds to go. The Gamecocks are now 0-6 to start conference play, tied for their worst start since 2014.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way South Carolina performed on Wednesday.

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Pressure got to South Carolina

As soon as Florida decided to change up its defense and run a full-court press, the entire complexion of the game flipped. The Gators, who were down by as much as 13 points in the final nine minutes, forced 12 turnovers in the second half.

The Gamecocks looked puzzled and out of sync once the change occurred. It was a constant struggle to make the inbound pass and get it up the floor to where they could go get a bucket. Florida did a great job of trapping where the ball was and forcing mistakes. It finished with 22 points off turnovers.

Head coach Lamont Paris admitted after the game that South Carolina wasn’t being aggressive, which ended up proving to be very costly. Florida dictated the latter half of the game by bringing the pressure and not giving the other team a chance to breathe.

For as well as Zachary Davis played, there were still some miscues

It’s been said a lot at this point, but this was the version of Davis everyone had been waiting for. Not the first half where the junior guard went 2-of-7 shooting and had four points. But the second-half explosion that got him rolling.

Davis went for 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five rebounds after halftime. He also went 3-for-7 from behind the arc, showing a real confidence to let it fly. It was easily the best he’s looked all season long.

But for as well as he performed, he made some critical errors that hurt South Carolina in the end. Davis committed six turnovers, five of which came in the second half. He also went 1-for-2 at the free throw line with 17 seconds to go, which only gave the Gamecocks a one-point lead.

So while he stepped up and tied his career-high in points, the turnovers and missed free throw late in the game can’t be overlooked.

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Jamarii Thomas’ absence is taking its toll

When Thomas went down with a right knee sprain two weeks ago, the Gamecocks were able to manage and nearly won a close game against No. 1 Auburn. But since then, his absence has become a lot more noticeable to the point where they need him back in a hurry.

With Thomas out, South Carolina has turned the ball over 65 times, a number that has proven costly in three of those losses coming by three points or less. He’s had his own issues with turnovers when healthy but having a true point guard makes a big difference.

Between South Carolina’s three starting guards, they combined to rack up 10 of the 15 turnovers in the game. Jacobi Wright, who has been filling in at the point, had six points on 2-of-8 shooting and turned the ball over twice.

The good news for South Carolina is that Thomas could return to game action as soon as Saturday when it takes on No. 14 Mississippi State.

South Carolina is making a concerted effort to get CMB the ball

Collin Murray-Boyles had a respectable game with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, even going 1-for-1 from three-point range. Most of his production came in the first half where he had 11 points. But his scoring ability didn’t solely define his performance.

Murray-Boyles also led the way with eight assists to go along with five rebounds and three blocks. He didn’t set the world on fire with a huge scoring game, but he arguably had one of his most complete performances of the year.

The assists were more of a byproduct in how the game was going. His court vision is incredible. The way he’s able to make tough passes look easy is what sets him up to be a sought after player at the next level. At the same time, Paris thought he might’ve had a few more points if Florida had guarded differently in the second half.

Paris mentioned that the team was getting the ball to him as many times as they could. Considering the offense runs through Murray-Boyles, this makes a ton of sense. He just would’ve loved to see him more aggressive to command the ball late in the game. But it’s hard to be mad about sharing the ball the way he did, which led to some open shots.

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The first 30 minutes were what this team should always look like

A lot of the discussion surrounding this game will be how South Carolina blew a 14-point lead and crumbled when Florida pressed on defense. That’s fair to look at the loss that way. But let’s also not forget how well things went for most of the game.

There was a lot to love about the way the team played right out of the gate. They were aggressive on defense trying to make each possession hard on the Gators. Their ball movement was as good as it’s been all year. They only turned the ball over three times and shot 50 percent from the field. Most of all, their energy was exactly where it needed to be.

This continued deep into the second half with the Gamecocks continuing to pounce. They were up by 13 with less than nine minutes to go. The odds of winning are probably very high. It’s just those closing minutes that killed their chances.

So while it’s another tough loss in a six-game losing streak, there’s at least one positive to take away in that South Carolina can play well enough to win games. It just comes down to that final stretch. It needs to be able to finish.

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