NCAA News Wire
Florida 72, South Carolina 46
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sophomore guard Michael Frazier II scored a career-high 37 points, lifting the No. 1 Florida Gators to a 72-46 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena.
Frazier made a school-record 11 3-pointers for the Gators, passing the previous school mark of nine 3-pointers of the game set by Joe Lawrence on Dec. 27, 1986, vs. California.
The Gators (28-2, 17-0 Southeastern Conference) won their 22nd straight and ninth straight on the road.
Forward Mindaugas Kacinas led South Carolina (11-19, 4-13 SEC) with 12 points, with freshman guard Duane Notice adding 10 points.
Tied at 28 early in the second half, Florida took control of the game with an 11-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Senior center Patric Young added nine points for the Gators
Two early 3-pointers from Frazier gave the Gators a 7-0 lead. But South Carolina charged back with a 12-2 run, taking a 12-9 lead on an inside layup from Kacinas.
The back-and-forth first half continued with four ties and six lead changes. The Gators regained the lead at 20-19 on a Frazier 3-pointer. After a Kachinas putback tied the score at 25, Frazier answered with his fifth 3-pointer of the first half, putting Florida up 28-25 with 1:14 remaining.
The Gators had a chance to pad their first-half lead, but point guard Scottie Wilbekin was stripped by Kachinas with 34 seconds remaining and was fouled on a breakaway layup. Kachinas made one of two free throws to cut Florida’s lead to 28-26 at halftime.
South Carolina out-rebounded Florida 21-12 in the first half, with nine offensive rebounds. The Gators, meanwhile, scored 10 first-half points off 10 Gamecocks turnovers.
NOTES: South Carolina senior G Brenton Williams and former basketball player and senior Bruce Ellington were honored during pregame Senior Day ceremonies. Ellington, also a standout wide receiver, played basketball for three years with the Gamecocks but took his senior year off to prepare for the NFL draft. … Florida entered its matchup against South Carolina with 27 regular-season wins, the most in school history. Florida’s previous mark for most regular-season wins was 26-5 in 2006-07, the year the Gators won their last national title. … Florida’s senior class is the first in school history to win three Southeastern Conference championships.
