South Carolina Basketball: Meechie Johnson, 1-3-1 zone fuel comeback win over Florida

South Carolina Basketball vs. Florida Gators
Stats, Scoring, and Observations

South Carolina basketball fought back from a 10-point 2nd half deficit to the Florida Gators and won a hard-fought game that kept them in the running for the SEC regular season championship.

Here are the stats from the game:

STATS

Florida

Points

Leader: Walter Clayton with 20

Rebounds

Leader: Thomas Haugh with 6

Assists

Leader: Zyon Pullen with 7

Steals

Leader: Will Richard and Tyrese Samuel each with 2

Blocks

Leader: Walter Clayton and Tyrese Samuel each with 2

Team

The Gators shot 48.2%/43.5%/80% and had 12 turnovers

South Carolina

Points

Leader: Meechie Johnson with 25

Rebounds

Leader: Collin Murray-Boyles with 11

Assists

Leader: Ta'Lon Cooper with 4

Steals

Leader: Ta'Lon Cooper with 4

Blocks

Leader: Collin Murray-Boyles with 4

Team

The Gamecocks shot 47.2%/37.5%/74.2% and had 8 turnovers

BOX SCORE

OBSERVATIONS

• Starters: Ta’Lon Cooper-Meechie Johnson-Zach Davis-BJ Mack-Collin Murray-Boyles
• Myles Stute remained out with his knee injury.
• Florida dominated the glass early as only Collin Murray-Boyles had any luck against the Gator bigs. BJ Mack, Josh Gray, Ebrima Dibba, and Stephen Clark all got chances to play but nothing helped, leading Coach Paris to play small at times with CMB at the 5 and a four-guard lineup. No one other than Murray-Boyles had more than 1 rebound in the 1st half as Florida had 7 players with multiple boards, leading to them winning that battle 23-15.
• BJ Mack also really struggled on defense in the 1st half. Paired with his 0 points and 0 rebounds, it was a bad opening 20 minutes (13 on the floor) for Mack.
• Jacobi Wright was shooting really well in the 1st half, making 3-4 shots from the perimeter.
• Carolina kept Florida off the offensive glass in the 2nd half. They didn't grab their first miss until the final minute, and they immediately turned the ball over.
• Josh Gray replaced BJ Mack in the rotation after a bad start to the 2nd half for Mack. He grabbed rebounds and drew fouls to help get USC back in the game. Mack returned to help in the late goings.
• The 1-3-1 is going to give Florida coach Todd Golden nightmares. The Gamecocks forced 6 turnovers in 10 minutes in the zone and staged their comeback during that time.
• Collin Murray-Boyles picked up his first career double-double.