Fresh off a nail-biting home defeat to Auburn on Saturday, the Florida Gators were out for vengeance Wednesday night. And the result was Gator dominance from all levels of the court.
Up 12-8 with 11:01 to go in the first half, sophomore guard Urban Klavžar started the run, hitting the game’s first two 3-pointers to put UF up 10.
Then, the Gator block party was in full force. Florida rejected seven South Carolina shots, as Klavžar, Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon, Micah Handlogten and Thomas Haugh all recorded a first-half rejection.
And while the Florida defense was rolling, its offense, which only shot 37% from the field and 26% from downtown Saturday, was nearly unstoppable. Led by Haugh’s 15 points, the Gators finished the first half shooting 20-for-35 (57%), including 45% shooting from beyond the arc.
All in all, it was a 36-12 Florida run in the final 11:01 of the first half as the Gators held South Carolina to a season-low, 20-point first half. From there, it was all elementary, as No. 19 Florida (15-6, 6-2 SEC) cruised to a 95-48 win over South Carolina (11-10, 2-6 SEC) in Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday night.
The 47-point road win was the largest margin of victory for Florida in a Southeastern Conference away game.
At the center of Florida’s dominance was its excellence on the boards. The No. 1-ranked team in the nation in rebound margin, UF outrebounded South Carolina 45-24. The Gators’ leading rebounder on the night was Chinyelu, who grabbed 11 boards en route to his 12th double-double of the season.
Another area of Gator dominance was its effective passing. Florida recorded 28 assists, while South Carolina only had four. Xaivian Lee paced UF with nine dimes, while Alex Condon and Boogie Fland had eight and six assists, respectively.
Condon’s mark set a new career-high as the Perth, Australia native nearly reached a triple-double with his 10-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist performance.
While nothing seemed to fall against the Tigers, the Gators' shooting efficiency was a major factor in the blowout. As a team, the Gators finished the game shooting 38-61 from the field, a sterling 62%.
Even more impressive was Florida’s improvement from beyond the arc, as the Gators hit nine of their 21 long-range attempts. Those makes weren’t limited to Florida’s usual rotation players, as freshmen Alex Lloyd and CJ Ingram II both converted from downtown in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Gators shut down the Gamecocks from the perimeter, forcing misses on 17 of their 20 3-point shots. Those misses led to transition chances, which UF capitalized on throughout the contest. Ultimately, UF finished with a whopping 32 fastbreak points.
The one offensive constant through both games, however, was Haugh. After scoring 27 points Saturday, Haugh once again paced both teams with 18 points.
Meanwhile, Chinyelu, whose recent dominance has mostly been a product of second-half excellence, started off strong, scoring Florida’s first 4 points of the contest. From there, he finished the game with 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting. He has scored in the double-digits in 10 of his past 11 contests.
Klavžar and Fland also hit the double-digit scoring mark, with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Lee also scored 10 points, but he went 0-4 from 3-point range.
With just moments left in the contest and the result secured, sophomore Olivier Rioux made his fifth appearance, with this being his first in SEC play. He recorded no stats, but did send a nice pass to sophomore Viktor Micić that led to a foul.
Florida returns home to face No. 23 Alabama (14-6, 4-3 SEC) at 1 p.m. on Sunday in a matchup between two of the SEC’s top teams.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 sports editor. Previously for The Alligator, she covered volleyball and did sports enterprise. Ava enjoys watching and playing sports in her free time and has been a Boston sports fan all her life. (Brad Marchand is still everything.)
Max is a junior sports journalism student in his seventh semester at The Alligator. He serves as The Alligator's assistant sports editor and football beat coordinator. He previously served as The Alligator's sports editor and as a reporter for football, women's tennis, volleyball, lacrosse and sports enterprise. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. Max wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Maxim Mamin).
