South Carolina held #22 Florida without a field goal for the final 6:37 to earn a come-from-behind 72-66 win.

The Gators entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the country, and after a 7-0 run to take a 65-59 lead with 6:37 left in the game, they seemed to be on the verge of pulling away. Instead, the Gamecocks regrouped. They locked in on defense and made sure the ball got into the paint on offense.

Seventh Woods hit a tough floater to end the run, and then Jermaine Couisnard forced a turnover that led to a breakaway dunk for Keyshawn Bryant. Then Jalyn McCreary made a series of plays that permanently changed the game’s momentum. He blocked a shot by Colin Castleton, who had tormented the Gamecocks with seven blocked shots, and then McCreary tied the game on a ferocious putback dunk. McCreary then came up with a steal that set up the go-ahead basket by Woods.

Bryant scored on a pair of putbacks that sandwiched a free throw by Tre Mann, Florida’s only points in the final six minutes. Florida had to foul to prolong the game, which led to a lot of poor free throw shooting by both teams. AJ Lawson made one free throw, and that was enough to secure the win.

Lawson finished with a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds, and for long stretches he was single-handedly keeping South Carolina in the game. But in the decisive run it was defense and Woods and Bryant who made the difference. Woods finished with a season-high 12 points, and more importantly just one turnover.

“Seventh Woods made some extremely big time plays in the middle of the floor, which he’s good at,” Martin said.

Bryant had a quiet game statistically with eight points, seven rebounds, and two blocks, but he made his presence felt when it mattered. He had six points, four rebounds, a block and a forced turnover, and made all the energy plays.

“He’s always gonna be Key,” Lawson said. “Bouncy, energetic, that’s just who he is.”

Florida entered the game as the best-shooting team in the SEC. In the first half Florida shot 48%, right at its season average. In the second half, South Carolina held Florida to just 32% shooting. Florida missed six straight shots midway through the half as South Carolina erased the Gators’ largest lead of eight points. Then Florida missed its final eight shots and watched South Carolina pull off the win.

“I thought our ball screen coverage was the best it’s been all year,” Martin said. “The best part of our defense today was we didn’t commit bad, stupid fouls. We owned up to our responsibilities.

“Sometimes we were fortunate and they missed and sometimes we forced them to miss.”

For the game, Florida shot just 40%, while South Carolina shot 46%.

Notes:

The win is South Carolina’s third straight at Florida. … South Carolina only attempted four threes in the second half, which was a good thing. South Carolina was plus-eight rebounding and plus-20 in points in the paint. South Carolina had 13 offensive rebounds and 20 second chance points. … Couisnard hit his first three shots of the game but was just 1-9 after that. However, Martin praised his defense. … Florida blocked 12 shots. The Gators are fourth in the nation in blocked shots. … Nathan Nelson played a career-high 13 minutes. He made an important corner three during a long otherwise scoreless stretch for the Gamecocks in the first half. The basket gave Nelson a career-high in scoring as well. He also got his first career assist. … South Carolina’s next game is Saturday against Mississippi State.