What to watch for: South Carolina heads to Florida

South Carolina heads on the road trying to avoid it’s third four-game losing streak in the last five seasons. 

The Gamecocks travel to Gainesville for a Wednesday-night tilt against Florida, a team they’ve won six of the last 10 games against. South Carolina is coming off a 15-point loss to Auburn, and things don’t get any easier against the Gators. 

Here’s what you need to watch before Wednesday’s game.

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Can GG Jackson replicate his performance?

It’s probably not wise to expect Jackson, coming off a career day, to put up 30 points on 21 shots again and hit four of eight threes. But what Lamont Paris can hope to replicate is the energy Jackson plays with. 

The Gamecocks’ freshman phenom had eight rebounds, three on the offensive end, with a season-high eight free throw attempts. He also finished with two blocks and just two turnovers. 

That’s the level of energy South Carolina needs game in and game out. So it’s imperative to get that from Jackson again. When that happens, shots tend to fall. He’s played his best on the road in SEC play, and the Gamecocks will need that against another great frontcourt pairing. 

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Will the defense show incremental improvement? 

The Gamecocks are dreadful defensively since the start of SEC play. They rank last in defensive efficiency, opponent effective field goal percentage and opponent offensive rebound rate. They’re 13th in opponent two-point and three-point percentage. 

It’s a team that hasn’t really shown a lot on that end with the uptick in competition in the SEC. Can the on-ball defense be better to limit looks at the rim? Florida ranks a little below average in turnover rate, so can South Carolina force turnovers and get some easier open-court chances? 

Florida isn’t a great offensive team based on the numbers, so the opportunity is there to at least take a marginal step forward. 

What will Meechie Johnson, Hayden Brown’s impact be?

Yes, Jackson’s heroics are going to be there on some nights, but Johnson is the catalyst that revs South Carolina’s engine. When he’s clicking and doing it efficiently, the Gamecocks get that much better. When he doesn’t and ultimately goes 2-for-11 from the field and 1-for-9 from three the offense can bog down. 

He did stuff the stat sheet outside of that–six boards, five assists to one turnover and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line–but the Gamecocks need that plus more efficient shooting. 

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With Brown, he did get to the free throw line six times, making four, with three steals which is a positive. But he had just two assists to five turnovers and battled foul trouble again while finishing with three rebounds. 

The Gamecocks are getting more aggressive play from those two, but need them to be a little more efficient. 

The starting lineup conundrum

South Carolina tweaked its starting lineup once again against Auburn, taking Josh Gray out and inserting Jacobi Wright. Gray had an impactful game, finishing with six points on 2-for-4 shooting, but brought in eight rebounds with five on the offensive end. 

EvanMiya considers Gray one of the Gamecocks’ more efficient players and three of South Carolina’s four most net-efficient lineups have Gray in there. Wright is involved in all four. 

Will South Carolina continue to run out the three-guard lineup for a consecutive game or reinsert Gray back into the starting five?

Scouting the opponent

The Gators struggled at the end of December and beginning of January with a three-game skid but have rebounded nicely. They’ve won four of their last five games and are coming off a road win at Mississippi State. 

Florida doesn’t have a marquee win–the best coming in that win over the Bullodgs (No. 56 KenPom)–but none of the losses are bad. The Gators only have two losses this season against teams ranked below No. 40 in KenPom, both of which are against Texas A&M (48). 

It’s one of the best defensive teams in the country, top 15 in defensive efficiency, opponent effective field goal percentage and opponent two-point percentage. That’s translated to SEC play. The Gators fourth in defensive efficiency in the league and in the top four of most defensive statistics. 

The offense is the part that’s sputtered, ranked 10th in the SEC in efficiency largely because it’s a poor offensive rebounding team.

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Colin Castleton–on the shortlist for SEC player of the year–is averaging 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game to pair with 3.1 blocks. Will Richard is the only other double-figure scorer (10.2 points) and is shooting 43.5 percent from thre. There are four other Gator players averaging at least six points per game. 

Sophomore transfer Alex Fudge helps anchor the frontcourt, averaging 7.5 points and 5.1 boards. Kowacie Reeves is also averaging 9.1 points and shooting 52.5 percent from two. 

Game details

Who: South Carolina (8-11, 1-5 SEC) at Florida (11-8, 4-3 SEC)

When: Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

Where: Exactech Arena (Capacity: 10,151)

How to watch/listen: ESPN2/GamecockSports Network

All-time series: Florida leads 40-20 (Last matchup: Florida win 71-63)

KenPom prediction: Florida wins 74-57 (Gamecocks given six percent chance to win)

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