COLUMBIA, S.C. – Offensive rebounding and ball security have been strengths for Florida all season, but those two areas failed the Gators on the road Saturday, which was something of a surprise. As for their struggles against the South Carolina zone defense?
Not a surprise.
USC guard Meechie Johnson was near perfect in the second half, scoring 21 of his 25 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to fuel the 18th-ranked Gamecocks double-digit comeback and 82-76 defeat of the No. 24 Gators in their afternoon Southeastern Conference showdown at Colonial Life Arena.
For Florida (20-9, 10-6), the loss was a hard hit to its quest for a top-four seed at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., on March 13-17. By day’s end, pending results around the league, UF could be tied for fourth or dropped alone in sixth place. South Carolina (24-5, 12-4), which finished last in the SEC a year and were preseason picks to do so again, continued its magical season-long story with a third consecutive win and will be tied for second place – and just a game out of first – come Saturday night.
Johnson basically came out of the locker unconscious, hitting nine of his 10 field-goal attempts to ignite a rally from 10 points down with 12 minutes remaining. The Gators tried to counter Johnson’s hot hand, mostly with guard Walter Clayton Jr. dropping six 3s on his way to a team-high 20 points. Clayton, though, had…
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