Spring has sprung and practice has begun for the Florida Gators. There is and should be buzz about the quarterback situation since Graham Mertz is coming off an exceptionally good 2023 and he’s mentoring Gatorade National Player of the Year DJ Lagway, as impressive a physical specimen as you’ll find at the quarterback position. With those two running the show, Florida’s offense should improve, yet, for the most part, offense wasn’t the problem a year ago.

All eyes are on fan favorite Defensive Lineman, Desmond Watson for an improved Florida Defense in 2024.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: Billy Napier’s third spring practice kicks off at the University of Florida this afternoon. The Gators will have 80 scholarship players taking part in spring drills, 38 on offense, 42 on defense and three on special teams. Here are the scholarship players with their latest listed heights and weights. Offense Quarterbacks (3): Graham Mertz (6-2-3/4, 215, RSR); Clay Millen (6-2-3/4, 189, RJR); DJ Lagway (6-3, 241, FR) Running backs (6): Montrell Johnson Jr. (5-11-1/4, 213, SR); Cameron Carroll (6-0, 227, RSR); Ja’Kobi Jackson (5-10-1/2, 218, RJR); Treyaun Webb (5-11, 215, SO); Kahnen Daniels (5-11-1/2, 196, FR); Jaden Baugh (6-0-3/4, 237, FR) Wide receivers (9): Chimere Dike (6-0-1/4, 195, SR); Ja’Quavion Fraziars (6-3-1/2, 218, SR); Marcus Burke (6-3-3/4, 193, RJR); Kahliel Jackson (6-3, 215, RJR); Tre Wilson (5-10, 181, SO); Andy Jean (6-1, 191, RFR); Aidan Mizell (6-1-1/2, 182, RFR); Tank Hawkins (5-9-1/2, 170, FR); TJ Abrams (5-10, 197, FR) Tight ends (5): Keon Zipperer (6-1-1/4, 246, RSR); Arlis Boardingham (6-3, 238, RSO); Hayden Hansen (6-6-1/4, 2672, RSO); Tony Livingston (6-4-3/4, 253, SO); Gavin Hill (6-3, 253, RFR) O-linemen (15):  Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (6-7, 315, RSR); Austin Barber (6-6, 316, RJR); Jake Slaughter (6-4-1/2, 297, RJR); Damieon George (6-6, 362, RJR); Kamryn Waites (6-8, 350, RJR); Riley Simonds (6-3, 308, RSR); Devon Manuel (6-7, 319, RJR); Christian Williams (6-4-1/4, 304, RSO); Knijeah Harris (6-3, 323, SO); Roderick Kearney (6-4, 302, RFR); Bryce Lovett (6-5, 325, RFR); Caden Jones (6-7-1/2, 336, RFR); Fletcher Westphal (6-8, 325, FR); Mike Williams (6-5-3/4, 313, FR); Noel Portnjagin (6-5, 322, FR) Defense D-linemen (7): Joey Slackman (6-3-1/2, 304, GR); CamRon Jackson (6-6, 374, SR); Desmond Watson (6-5, 464, SR); Caleb Banks (6-5-3/4, 325, RSO); Jamari Lyons (6-3-1/2, 298, RSO); Michai Boireau (6-4-3/4, 382, FR); D’Antre Robinson (6-3, 302, FR) EDGE (10): Justus Boone (6-4, 265, RJR); Brien Taylor (6-6, 270, JR); Tyreak Sapp (6-3, 275, RJR); Kelby Collins (6-3-3/4, 275, SO); Kamran James (6-5-1/2, 274, SO); George Gumbs (6-4, 246, RJR); TJ Searcy (6-5, 254, SO); Jack Pyburn (6-3, 261, JR); Quincy Ivory (6-3-1/3, 252, JR); LJ McCray (6-6, 260, FR) Inside linebackers  (9): Derek Wingo (6-1, 235, SR); RJ Moten (6-0, 230, SR); Shemar James (6-1, 230, JR); Mannie Nunnery (6-1/4, 227, RSR); Ja’Markis Weston (6-2-1/2, 234, RJR); Deuce Spurlock II (6-0-1/2, 232, RSO); Jalen Robinson (6-0-1/4, 233, SO); Grayson Howard (6-4, 235, SO); Myles Graham (6-0-3/4, 222, FR); Corners (8): Jason Marshall (6-0-1/2, 205, SR); Devin Moore (6-2-3/4, 197, JR); Ethan Pouncey (6-0-1/4, 169, RJR); Ja’Keem Jackson (6-0-1/4, 187, SO); Sharif Denson (5-11, 186, SO); Dijon Johnson (6-1, 197, SO); Teddy Foster (6-0-3/4, 178, FR); Jameer Grimsley (6-2-1/4, 187, FR) Safeties (8): Asa Turner (6-3, 212, RSR); Trikweze Bridges (6-2-1/4, 199, SR); DJ Douglas (5-11-3/4, 212, SR); Bryce Thornton (5-10, 206, SO); Jordan Castell (6-2, 207, SO); Aaron Gates (6-0-1/2, 196, RFR); Josiah Davis (6-0-1/2, 196, FR); Gregory Smith (6-3-1/4, 209, FR) Special teams Placekicker (1): Trey Smack (6-1, 199, JR) Punter (1): Jeremy Crawshaw (6-3-3/4, 205, JR) Long snapper (1): Rocco Underwood (6-3, 228, RJR) UF BASKETBALL: Not much chance for UF to get double bye Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC) clinched the SEC regular season championship Wednesday night with its win over South Carolina but the drama in the league is far from over. Five teams still have a shot at finishing second, third and fourth in the regular season which earns the double bye at the SEC Tournament. South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn and Kentucky are tied for second and Florida is just a game behind. Alabama and Auburn have the easiest path to the double bye. Alabama is home against Arkansas Saturday and Auburn is home against Georgia. They should both finish 13-5 and get the extra day of rest in Nashville. Kentucky has the toughest path since the Wildcats have to play Tennessee in Knoxville. South Carolina has to play Mississippi State at The Hump in Starkville. Mississippi State has lost two in a row and is now on the NCAA bubble, so this figures to be one of the toughest games in the SEC on Saturday. Florida gets Vanderbilt in Nashville and while there is a mathematic chance to get the double bye, it might take a walls of Jericho tumbling down miracle for that to happen. Wednesday’s scores: No. 4 Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC) 66, No. 17 South Carolina (24-6, 12-5 SEC) 59; No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) 93, Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC) 77; Texas A&M (17-13, 8-9 SEC) 75, Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9 SEC) 69; Arkansas (15-15, 6-11 SEC) 94, LSU (16-14, 8-9 SEC) 83 Saturday’s games: FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC) at Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC); No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) at No. 4 Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC); Georgia (16-14, 6-11 SEC) at No. 13 Auburn (23-7, 12-5 SEC); Arkansas (15-15, 6-11 SEC) at No. 16 Alabama (20-10, 12-5 SEC); No. 17 South Carolina (24-6, 12-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9 SEC); Texas A&M (17-13, 8-9 SEC) at Ole Miss (20-10, 7-10 SEC); Missouri (8-22, 0-17 SEC) at LSU (16-14, 8-9 SEC) UF BASEBALL: Midweek woes, Gators fall to UCF, 9-6 The 4th-ranked Gators (8-4) gave up four runs in the top of the first and never recovered as they dropped a 9-6 decision to UCF at Condon Family Ballpark. The Knights lit up freshman Luke McNellie for four in the first and one in the second. McNellie was followed by three freshmen, none of whom could shut the Knights down. Jac Caglianone, who hit his fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the first, also had a run-scoring single in the third. Brody Donay hit his second homer of the season in the seventh and Colby Shelton hit a 2-run homer for his sixth in the eighth. The Gators host Saint Mary’s of the West Coast Conference for a weekend series beginning Friday. UF WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Gators move to 2nd round of SEC Tournament The Gators built a 20-point lead in the third quarter, then held on as Missouri staged a furious rally Wednesday afternoon at the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina. Missouri was able to close to 60-57 with 4:00 remaining, but the Gators outscored the Tigers, 9-3, the rest of the way for a 66-60 win. Leilani Correa scored 15 points to lead four Gators in double figures. Aliyah Matharu scored 14, Alberte Rimdal 12 and Jeriah Warren 10. It was the 25th time this season Correa has scored in double figures. The Gators (15-14) move on to the second round where they will face Vanderbilt (22-8) at 8:30 p.m. tonight (SEC Network). UF WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Parker Valby wins SEC honors Parker Valby, the NCAA women’s cross country champion, was honored as the SEC Co-Indoor Runner of the Year on Thursday. At the SEC Indoor Championships, Valby ran the anchor leg for Florida’s champion distance medley relay team, then one day later won the 3000 meters in SEC indoor record time for her second gold medal. Valby and both the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams will be participating in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston this weekend. The Florida men go into the meet ranked third nationally, while the UF women are ranked second. UF LACROSSE: Gators hammer UC-Davis 21-7 for fourth straight win The 11th-ranked Gators (4-2) won their fourth straight game Wednesday when they trounced UC-Davis, 21-7. This was Florida’s third consecutive game with 20 or more points, a program record. Maggi Hall had one goal and eight assists, becoming the 12th player in UF history to reach 200 points for her career. Emily Heller scored four goals including the 100th of her career. She is the 18th Florida player with 100 or more goals. Liz Harrison had a career-best 19 draw controls. The Gators will finish their west coast road trip Friday when they face San Diego State. COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY, BASKETBALL EDITION Extinct species list Chris Holtman, Ohio State: The talk now seems to center around Dusty May, former Bobby Knight manager at Indiana, former Florida assistant under Mike White and current head coach at Florida Atlantic. Unsubstantiated but out there: LeBron James will have his kid transfer from Southern Cal to Ohio State if Dusty gets the job. Tony Stubblefield, DePaul: What’s making the rounds is Bobby Hurley resigning at Arizona State and taking the DePaul job. Makes sense. Downtown big city Catholic school. Bobby’s roots are St. Anthony in Jersey City. Lorenzo Romar, Pepperdine: Why no one can win consistently in the WCC at Pepperdine is a mystery. Have you ever seen the campus right across the street from the beach in Malibu? Leonard Perry, Pacific: Bad facilities, bad location, bad pay. Bad, bad, bad, but someone will take the job. On life support Kenny Payne, Louisville: They’re being kind by waiting until the season ends before his gainful employment comes to an end. JuWan Howard, Michigan: Everybody speculates that he’s a goner, but AD Warde Manuel has made it clear no decisions about basketball will be made until the season ends. Mercifully, that will be sometime next week. The ideal replacement would be Nate Oats, the Alabama coach, who is a high school coaching legend in Detroit. Michigan doesn’t lack for money but would it write a check for $12 million to pay the buyout at Alabama? Jerod Haase, Stanford: He can’t win in the Pac-12 which is far easier than the ACC. Stanford folks would crawl backwards through 10 miles of sewage if they thought they could land Todd Golden but he’s not leaving UF. Next choice is Kyle Smith, one of Todd’s mentors and now the head coach at Washington State. Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State: If he keeps his job the only reason will be the uncertainty of Oregon State’s athletic future since the Pac-12 imploded. Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt: The hot and juicy is he gets the axe right after Vandy’s first game in the SEC Tournament next week. Mike Davis, Detroit Mercy: The Titans finished 1-31 and have posted losing records five of six seasons. People in Detroit wonder why he’s still employed. Mike Boynton, Oklahoma State: The Cowboys are battling it out for last place in the Big 12 with West Virginia. Do they fire Boynton Saturday or wait until the Big 12 Tournament? Endangered species list Andy Enfield, Southern California: Southern Cal is next to last in the last year of the Pac-12. Mike Woodson, Indiana: Jeff Goodman reported Wednesday night that he gets one more year. Kyle Neptune, Villanova: The cardinal rule of coaching, don’t be the guy that follows the legend. Neptune made the mistake of following Jay Wright. It’s touch and go if he gets one more year. Mike Hopkins, Washington: He’s 116-104 at Washington where folks think they should do better. There is zero in the way of tradition at a school that really doesn’t care about basketball, so can they actually do better? ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you haven’t already, take the time to read Chris Low’s in-depth account of how Nick Saban concluded that the time was right for him to retire at Alabama. Whether you like or dislike Saban is irrelevant. What he has to say tells you how college football has gone off the rails a bit. If we don’t figure some things out to inject some common sense into this equation college football as we know it will surely cease to exist and what we will have is a minor league of the National Football League and the really good coaches will all flee to the NFL where at least there is structure and rules. Here are two excerpts: "I thought we could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me? Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field. "So I'm saying to myself, 'Maybe this doesn't work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it's all about how much money can I make as a college player?' I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that's never been what we were all about, and it's not why we had success through the years."

A Senior Night to Remember: As the scoreboard clock raced toward a flatline finish at 0:00 Tuesday night, walk-on Bennett Anderson ignored the Rowdy Reptiles begging him to launch a shot that would have been the cherry on top of a most delicious way to end Florida’s 105-87 win over 16th-ranked Alabama. That he was even on the court in a game of this magnitude is the stuff of which lifetime memories are made. It was Senior Night at the O-Dome and a guy whose career stats are two points scored in the mop-up seconds of a blowout of lowly Grambling back in December got to close out the most important win of Florida’s season with the ball in his hands. Moments like this are rarities for walk-ons who bust their butts daily in practice and whose rewards are precious seconds at the end of games long since decided before they saw the court. For Andersen and fellow senior walk-ons Alex Klatsky and Jack May, this was the perfect ending to their Florida basketball careers. “Bennett, to be honest, thanked the team in the locker room for playing well enough for him to be able to get on the court on senior night,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the Gators scored their third win over a ranked opponent this season. This is a team that has come a long, long way since the season started back in November. This Florida team that is 21-9, 11-6 in Southeastern Conference play is a handful of possessions away from being 27-3 overall and 15-2 in SEC play. In four of the six SEC losses, the Gators couldn’t hold leads late in the game. In three of the six, the Gators blew leads of at least 10 points. When the Gators had the 10-point lead against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide got loose for a late barrage of 3-pointers to erase Florida’s advantage and then won the game in overtime. This time out, with an O-Dome crowd of 11,009 on hand for Senior Night and to help the Gators knock off an Alabama team that many experts say has Final Four potential, Florida came prepared to defend the 3-point line and take away Alabama’s ability to stage a big comeback. The game went from potentially white knuckles to Florida blowout in the first seven minutes of the second half. The Gators held a 44-35 lead at the half, the kind of lead Alabama typically erases with quick 3-pointers, but this wasn’t a typical night for the Crimson Tide. Florida was the aggressor at both ends of the court, taking away the three that is Alabama’s calling card while attacking relentlessly on the offensive end. Sprinting out of the gate at the start of the second half, the Gators pushed the lead to 15 points (63-48) with 13:49 left in the game. In recent weeks, this was the time of the game for Florida fans to start biting their fingernails. Memories of blowing a 21-point lead to LSU before winning in overtime as well as losing the 10-point lead in the second half at South Carolina last Saturday were all too vivid. This time it was different, however, because instead of going into an offensive funk, committing a rash of fouls and failing to defend the 3-point line, the Gators played as complete a game as they’ve played all season. Florida’s aggressiveness on the offensive end got them to the foul line early and often in a second half in which they hit 31-35 free throws (40-46 for the game). A good many of the free throws were the result of Alabama trying to trade free throws for 3-pointers, only it didn’t work. Florida rarely missed a free throw and Alabama couldn’t find the ocean from the boat at the 3-point line. The Gators fouled enough to send Alabama to the line for 25 free throws, but unlike what happened last Saturday against South Carolina in Columbia, the Gators didn’t lose their poise when the whistles tooted. The Gators’ 3-point defense kept Alabama from going on any big scoring runs. Florida meanwhile was turning every transition opportunity into fast break points. The Gators outscored Alabama 27-8 off fast breaks, especially in the second half when Florida stretched the lead to 20 points. Down 20, Alabama’s only hope was to heat it up from the 3-point line, but the team that is fourth nationally in 3-point attempts (30.7) and made 3-pointers (11.5) per game had problems getting shots from behind the line. Florida was physical, running the shooters off the 3-point line. When Alabama did get a shot off it was usually with a hand in the face or launching against someone taller. Alabama hit 5-23 from the 3-point line and if you take away the 4-6 effort from Mark Sears, the rest of the team was a dismal 1-17. Sears scored 33 points in the game, 29 in the second half, but the point totals are somewhat misleading. This wasn’t one of those games when he had plenty of open looks from behind the 3-point line. He had to work for everything he got, plus three of his four 3-pointers in the second half were in the final 5:41 when the game was long since decided. “We talked about having great discipline and execution for 40 minutes and understanding who the shooters were and not letting them get off,” Golden said. “I thought Walter Clayton probably had his best defensive effort of the year in that regard. He was so physical, so tough, not letting guys get threes off. If you hold them to five made threes on the road, you're going to give yourself a chance. They probably need 10. Just a great effort that way.” In scoring more than 100 points in an SEC game for the first time since a 2017 win at Auburn, the Gators overcame a 1-10 shooting start. Florida trailed 19-18 with 8:02 left in the first half and the score was tied at 21-21 a couple of minutes later, but the Gators went on a 23-14 run before intermission to take control that they never relinquished. Once in the second half, Alabama kept within striking distance until a driving layup by Clayton and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Alex Condon stretched Florida’s lead to 15. A couple of minutes later, Denzel Aberdeen stole an inbounds pass and dunked, sending the O-Dome crowd into a frenzy. That was followed by a nifty pass from Thomas Haugh to Condon, who turned it into a layup and a free throw. The clock showed 11:25 to go in the game and Alabama was down by 20, 70-50. As long as the Gators kept playing hard, particularly on defense, Golden knew this wasn’t going to be another blown lead. “A big part of our talk to the team down the stretch was, once we got that lead to 20, or whatever it was, they're not going to, they can't catch us unless we give them threes,” Golden said. “They just can't, they can't. We're going to be able to make enough baskets or get to the foul line enough.” The Gators didn’t give Alabama threes and of Florida’s final 35 points, 24 came at the foul line. Alabama got physical trying to get steals, which kept the Gators parading to the line to shoot free throws. The game took on a somewhat nasty tone when Alabama coach Nate Oats was lit up for a technical foul with 4:15 to go protesting when he felt Rylan Griffin was fouled. Oats was fortunate referee Doug Shows didn’t toss him. Five Gators finished the game in double figures, led by Will Richard, who found his shooting mojo early on and never lost it. Richard finished the game 8-12 from the field, 3-5 from the 3-point line and 4-4 on free throws. He also grabbed five rebounds and had a couple of steals. Clayton never got into a good shooting rhythm from the field but he spent the game on the foul line where he hit 15-16, finishing the night with 22 points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal. Freshman Alex Condon had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Since it was Senior Night, it was only fitting that Seton Hall transfer Tyrese Samuel and UC-Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin went out in style, each scoring 19 points. Samuel, who Golden said “was a monster,” had 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, one blocked shot and four steals. He was 9-9 from the foul line. At game’s end, nobody felt more like a Gator than Samuel. “I’m happy that I came to Florida,” Samuel said. “I feel embraced, and yeah like I’m just appreciative of being here, and I can’t really say much else.” Pullin, second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, had another zero turnover directing the Florida offense. “Just the steady, calming influence out there,” is how Golden described Pullin’s effort that included two rebounds, three assists and a steal to close out the O-Dome portion of his Florida experience. Getting a win over Alabama was a necessity since it was the last chance for the Gators to get a Quad 1 win in the regular season. Now with four, the Gators should move up a bit from No. 34 when the NCAA Net Rankings are revised today. Already the Gators have moved up six places to No. 25 in the all-important KenPom analytics and to No. 20 in the Bart Torvik analytics. Florida began the day on the No. 6 line in Joe Lunardi’s latest brackets. With a win to close out the regular season Saturday at Vanderbilt and with a win or two in the SEC Tournament in Nashville next week, the Gators have a really good shot at a six seed and potentially a No. 5. With a road trip to Vanderbilt the only regular season game still on the schedule, the Gators have finished the home portion of their schedule 14-1, the best record at the O-Dome since the 2013-14 team went 17-0. “For us to finish the year with only one loss in here, an overtime loss to Kentucky where we led for most of the game, just an incredible year for us in this building,” Golden said. “I'll say this again, our fans have been absolutely incredible. Incredible. Our trainer Duke Werner who's been here for almost 30 years said that was one of the best student sections he's seen in the O-Dome in his time and you could feel it right before tip, the energy for a Tuesday night tip. Just really proud of our team and really grateful for my staff and the way we executed tonight.” SEC Basketball Tuesday’s scores: FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC) 105, No. 16 Alabama (20-10, 12-5 SEC); No. 13 Auburn (23-7, 12-5 SEC) 101, Missouri (8-22, 0-17 SEC) 74; Georgia (16-12, 6-11 SEC) 69, Ole Miss (20-10, 7-10 SEC) 66 Wednesday’s games: No. 4 Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC) at No. 17 South Carolina (24-5, 12-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (8-21, 3-13 SEC) at No. 15 Kentucky (21-8, 11-5 SEC); Mississippi State (19-10, 8-8 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-13, 7-9 SEC); LSU (16-13, 8-8 SEC) at Arkansas (14-15, 5-11 SEC) SEC in KenPom analytics: 5. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 9. Alabama; 18. Kentucky; 26. FLORIDA; 31. Mississippi State; 43. South Carolina; 54. Texas A&M; 75. Ole Miss; 86. LSU; 93. Georgia; 115. Arkansas; 148. Missouri; 207. Vanderbilt SEC in Bart Torvik analytics: 5. Auburn; 7. Tennessee; 12. Alabama; 20. FLORIDA; 21. Kentucky; 29. Mississippi State; 41. South Carolina; 64. Texas A&M; 66. Ole Miss; 72. LSU; 78. Georgia; 118. Arkansas; 138. Missouri; 218. Vanderbilt

With the start of spring practice just days away, the Florida Gators rounded out their strength and conditioning staff with two hires on Tuesday. Rodney Hill and Reed Roberts will both assume roles related to athletic development.

What happened in the second half against South Carolina back on Saturday is a recurring theme that is the difference between the Gators playing to win the SEC regular season atitle in these last two games and battling for a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators held a 10-point lead in the second half against the Gamecocks, but there was a 4-minute stretch in which eight fouls and four turnovers shifted the momentum completely South Carolina’s way. The Gators are 20-9 overall, 10-6 in SEC play. Had they held onto double-digit second half leads against the Gamecocks, Alabama and Texas A&M, they could be 13-3 right now, dead even with Tennessee in the SEC standings with two games to go. Instead, the Gators need to win the last two starting tonight against Alabama at the O-Dome (7 p.m., ESPN) to get off those dreaded seven through 10 lines in the NCAA Tournament brackets. Right now, the Gators are projected as a No. 8 by both Joe Lunardi (ESPN) and Jerry Palm (CBS), the two most well-known bracketologists. Winner of the 8-9 game gets the region’s No. 1 seed in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The 7-10 winner gets the No. 2. “We're striving to be the best team we can possibly be,” Florida coach Todd Golden said Monday. “And, we've obviously made big strides over the last couple of months and went from a team that people didn't know what we could be and now we're safely in the tournament playing for seeding. We’ve won nine out of our last 12, and all three of those losses we had double-digit leads. So we're very close to playing really, really, really good ball.” Much of the losses at South Carolina and Texas A&M has to do with Florida’s struggles against zone defenses. The Gators blew a 10-point second half lead against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Turnovers, bad decisions and an inability to close out 3-point shooters late in the game like they did in the first when Bama went 2-18 had everything to do with the loss to Alabama. The Gators blew a 20-point lead to LSU only to win in overtime at the O-Dome. There was another overtime win, this one over Georgia, when the Gators saw a 21-point lead dissipate. In the three road losses to South Carolina, Texas A&M and Alabama, turnovers and too many second half fouls were an issue. During that 4-minute stretch when the game changed against South Carolina, the Gamecocks shot 13 free throws. They shot 21 in the second half. “We can’t let teams get to the line 22 times in a half,” Golden said. “That’s been a little bit of our issue in our losses on the road; play pretty well in the first half and then in the second half, we send them to the line, the game just sways and they’re able to set up their defense and their zone. So coming away from it, there is always going to be ways to improve, but we’re very good offensively. We still scored 1.13 points per possession on the road against a really good defense. So, overall, I’m fine with that. We just have to do a better job in the second half of defending, especially away from home.” Alabama scores 90.9 points to lead the nation. At 84.4, the Gators rank 12th. Tonight’s game figures to be an up-and-down the court affair, but after the way South Carolina, Texas A&M and LSU caused such problems with a 1-3-1 zone, the Gators can figure they’ll see some of that, too. Alabama is a top 10 team in both the NCAA Net Rankings and the KenPom analytics, so beating the Crimson Tide could help the Gators enormously for tournament seeding. Alabama came back on the Gators once. If the Gators get a lead tonight, holding it may determine where the Gators play at tournament time. “I would love to say I want to get up by 10, 15 or 20 and never allow it to be a game,” Golden said. “If we were doing that consistently we’d be a top-five team in the country. We’re just not quite there yet.” Beating Alabama won’t vault the Gators into the top five, but it will show the country what they’re capable of doing, especially the NCAA Tournament committee. Anticipated starting lineups FLORIDA (20-9, 10-6 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.5 points, 7.8 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6.2 points, 7.5 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.0 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (16.9 points, 3.7 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.4 points, 3.8 rebounds; 5.0 assists) ALABAMA (20-9, 12-4 SEC): 6-11 Grant Nelson (11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds); 6-11 Jarin Stevenson (5.3 points, 2.7 rebounds); 6-6 Rylan Griffin (11.4 points, 3.7 rebounds); 6-3 Aaron Estrada (13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists); 6-1 Mark Sears (20.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists) Associated Press top 25: 1. Houston 26-3; 2. UConn 26-3; 3. Purdue 26-3; 4. Tennessee 23-6; 5. Arizona 23-6; 6. Iowa State 23-6; 7. North Carolina 23-6; 8. Marquette 22-7; 9. Duke 23-6; 10. Creighton 22-8; 11. Baylor 21-8; 12. Illinois 22-7; 13.  Auburn 22-7; 14. Kansas 21-8; 15. Kentucky 21-8; 16. Alabama 20-9; 17. South Carolina 24-5; 18. Washington State 23-7; 19. Gonzaga 24-6; 20. BYU 21-8; 21. San Diego State 22-7; 22. Utah State 24-5; 23. Saint Mary’s 24-7; 24. South Florida 22-5; 25. Dayton 22-6 Coaches top 25: 1. Houston 26-3; 2. UConn 26-3; 3. Purdue 26-3; 4. Tennessee 23-6; 5. Arizona 23-6; 6. Iowa State 23-6; 7. North Carolina 23-6; 8. Duke 23-6; 9. Marquette 22-7; 10. Creighton 22-8; 11. Baylor 21-8; 12. Illinois 22-7; 13. Kentucky 21-8; 14. Auburn 22-7; 15. Kansas 21-8; 16. South Carolina 24-5; 17. Alabama 20-9; 18. Gonzaga 24-6; 19. San Diego State 22-7; 20. Washington State 23-7; 21. Saint Mary’s 24-7; 22. Utah State 24-5; 23. BYU 21-8; 24. South Florida 22-5; 25. FLORIDA 20-9 SEC Basketball Tuesday’s games: No. 14 Alabama (20-9, 12-4 SEC) at No. 24 FLORIDA (20-9, 10-6 SEC); No. 11 Auburn (22-7, 11-5 SEC) at Missouri (8-21, 0-16 SEC); Ole Miss (20-9, 7-9 SEC) at Georgia (15-14, 5-11 SEC) Wednesday’s games: No. 4 Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC) at No. 18 South Carolina (24-5, 12-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (8-21, 3-13 SEC) at No. 16 Kentucky (21-8, 11-5 SEC); Mississippi State (19-10, 8-8 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-13, 7-9 SEC); LSU (16-13, 8-8 SEC) at Arkansas (14-15, 5-11 SEC) UF BASEBALL: Caglianone SEC Pitcher of the Week Jac Caglianone is hitting a cool .489. Against Miami he hit an opposite field homer to beat the shift Friday night and delivered a moonshot into the second level of the parking deck way past the right field fence Sunday. On the mound, he was absolute beast mode with six shutout innings in which he allowed three hits and struck out 11. Those six innings earned Cags the SEC Pitcher of the Week, first time he’s ever earned that. Florida-FAU rescheduled: With bad weather expected for Tuesday night, Florida’s game with Florida Atlantic has been rescheduled for April 30. The Gators will be home Wednesday against UCF. D1Baseball top 25: 1. Wake Forest 10-1; 2. Arkansas 9-2; 3. LSU 11-1; 4. FLORIDA 8-3; 5. TCU 12-0; 6. Oregon State 11-1; 7. Texas A&M 11-0; 8. Tennessee 11-1; 9. Vanderbilt 10-3; 10. Clemson 9-1; 11. East Carolina 7-4; 12. Duke 10-1; 13. Virginia 10-1; 14. North Carolina State 9-2; 15. Alabama 11-1; 16. North Carolina 10-2; 17. Texas Tech 9-2; 18. Coastal Carolina 9-2; 19. Auburn 9-2; 20. Dallas Baptist 10-1; 21. South Carolina 8-3; 22. Campbell 8-3; 23. UC-Irvine 9-0; 24. Texas 7-4; 25. UC-Santa Barbara 5-5 Baseball America top 25: 1. Wake Forest 10-1; 2. LSU 11-1; 3. Arkansas 9-2; 4. Oregon State 11-1; 5. TCU 12-0; 6. FLORIDA 8-3; 7. Tennessee 11-1; 8. Virginia 10-1; 9. Vanderbilt 10-3; 10. Clemson 9-1; 11. Texas A&M 11-0; 12. Duke 10-1; 13. South Carolina 8-3; 14. Texas Tech 9-2; 15. East Carolina 7-4; 16. North Carolina 10-2; 17. North Carolina State 9-2; 18. Auburn 9-2; 19. UC-Irvine 9-0; 20. Dallas Baptist 10-1; 21. Alabama 11-1; 22. Coastal Carolina 9-2; 23. Texas 7-4; 24. Florida State 10-0;  25. Campbell 8-3 USA Today Coaches top 25: 1. Wake Forest 10-1; 2. LSU 11-1; 3. Arkansas 9-2; 4. TCU 12-0; 5. Oregon State 11-1; 6. Texas A&M 11-0; 7. FLORIDA 8-3; 8. Tennessee 11-1; 9. Clemson 9-1; 10. Vanderbilt 10-3; 11. Duke 10-1; 12. Virginia 10-1; 13. Alabama 11-1; 14. North Carolina 10-2; 15. North Carolina State 9-2; 16. East Carolina 7-4; 17. Texas Tech 9-2; 18. Coastal Carolina 9-2; 19. Dallas Baptist 10-1; 20. Auburn 9-2; 21. South Carolina 8-3; 22. Texas 7-4; 23. UC-Irvine 9-0; 24. Campbell 8-3; 25. Florida Stae 10-0 UF TRACK AND FIELD: Gator women No. 2; men No. 4 USTFCCCA women’s top 25: 1. Arkansas; 2. FLORIDA; 3. Texas; 4. Oklahoma STae; 5. Oregon; 6. Southern California; 7. Ole Miss; 8. Texas Tech; 9. LSU; 10. Georgia; 11. Stanford; 12. Alabama; 13. Texas A&M; 14. Notre Dame; 15. Washington; 16. Illinois; 17. BYU; 18. Harvard; 19. Tennessee; 20. Providence; 21. South Carolina; 22. Baylor; 23. Clemson; 24. Minnesota; 25. Oklahoma USTFCCCA men’s top 25: 1. Arkansas; 2. Texas Tech; 3. Northern Arizona; 4. FLORIDA; 5. Washington; 6. Southern California; 7. Texas; 8. Nebraska; 9. Alabama; 10. Houston; 12. North Carolina; 13. Kentucky; 14. Georgia; 15. South Carolina; 16. Stanford; 17. Oklahoma State; 18. Texas A&M; 19. Florida State; 20. Kansas; 21. Iowa; 22. Illinois; 23. Penn State; 24. Harvard; 25. Ole Miss UF GYMNASTICS: Gators move up to No. 4 WCGA top 25: 1. Oklahoma; 2. California; 3. LSU; 4. FLORIDA; 5. Utah; 6. Kentucky; 7. Michigan; 8. Michigan State; 9. Alabama; 10. UCLA; 11. Denver; 12. Arkansas; 13. Missouri; 14. Auburn; 15. Ohio State; 16. Oregon State; 17. Minnesota; 18. Arizona State; 19. Arizona; 20. Georgia; 21. North Carolina State; 22. Stanford; 23. Penn State; 24. Illinois; 25. Washington UF SOFTBALL: Otis, Rothrock earn SEC honors Outfielder Korbe Otis earned SEC Player of the Week honors and pitcher Keagan Rothrock was named SEC Freshman of the Week. Otis went 9-11 as the Gators (19-3) won four of five games at the Judi Garman Classic. Rothrock pitched a 2-hitter to beat UCLA and a no-hitter to beat Cal State-Fullerton at the Garman Classic, extending her string of shutout innings to 29-2/3. UF LACROSSE: Gators remain No. 11 ILWomen/IWLCA top 25: 1. Northwestern 5-1; 2. James Madison 6-0; 3. Boston College 6-1; 4. Notre Dame 5-1; 5. Syracuse 3-2; 6. Michigan 6-0; 7. Loyola 4-; 8. North Carolina 4-2; 9. Maryland 4-1; 10. Denver 3-2; 11. FLORIDA 3-2; 12. Stony Brook 4-0; 13. Virginia 5-1; 14. Penn 4-0; 15. Johns Hopkins 5-2; 16. Navy 5-0; 17. Southern California 4-2; 18. Yale 4-0; 19. Colorado 4-2; 20. Clemson 4-1; 21. Princeton 2-2; 22. Rutgers 5-1; 23. Richmond 4-1; 24. Harvard 4-0; 25. Brown 3-1 UF GOLF: Bushnell/Golfweek top 25: 1. Auburn; 2. North Carolina; 3. Vanderbilt; 4. Arizona State; 5. Washington; 6. Ole Miss; 7. Tennessee9; 8. Arizona; 9. Oklahoma; 10. Arkansas; 11. Georgia Tech; 12. Virginia; 13. Florida State; 14. Texas Tech; 15. FLORIDA; 16. East Tennessee State; 17. Illinois; 18. California; 19. New Mexico; 20. Texas; 21. Alabama; 22. Mississippi State; 23. Duke; 24. North Florida; 25. Oregon ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Dartmouth men’s basketball team will vote today on forming a union. That would mean the players are employees and would also end this notion that the Ivy League is the last bastion of pure amateurism in college sports. Dartmouth, of course, is fighting the National Labor Relations Board tooth and nail, but whether Dartmouth wins of loses, this is one more sure sign that the NCAA has outlived its usefulness. In the months ahead, serious discussions will take place that will determine what will happen not only with college football and basketball, the two cash cows that keep the lights on at every Division I school, but with every sport they sponsor. If the athletes are employees, how much will they be paid is an obvious question but more importantly, where will the money come from. We know the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten won’t have to struggle to come up with the cash, but they represent 34 of the more than 130 Division I football schools. There are 362 schools that play Division I basketball. How many can survive paying the athletes? How many schools will cut sports because they can’t afford to pay everybody? The NCAA wants Congress to solve the problems or else adapt Charlie Baker’s proposal, which makes you wonder if he was dropped on his head too many times when he was an infant. The NCAA got college sports into this mess and if you believe the organization is capable of coming up with a solution, then you are a special kind of stupid. There is only so much time for someone to come up with a plan to start a new organization that eliminates the NCAA once and for all.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

“Veni, vidi, vici.” – Julius Caesar, which translates Latin to English as “I came, I saw, I conquered.” The latest victims to get a full understanding of what happens when Jac Caglianone shows up at the ball yard laser focused are the Miami Hurricanes. They came to Mark Light Field Sunday anticipating a win that would give them the weekend series with 4th-ranked Florida. What they didn’t anticipate was a day of wrath from Cag, the nation’s No. 1 Major League Baseball prospect who took it out on the Hurricanes both on the mound and at the plate as the Gators won the weekend with an 8-4 win. All Caglianone did was pitch six innings of 3-hit baseball, striking out 11 along the way, and delivering a home run into the second deck of the parking garage well beyond the right field fence, one of three hits as he raised his season batting average to .478. Caglianone’s homer, his fourth of the season, was one of five the Gators hit off Miami pitching Sunday. Colby Shelton hit two (fourth and fifth) and Ty Evans (third)  and Tyler Shelnut (fourth) one each as the Gators made life miserable for the Hurricanes, a statement of sorts since the Gators were coming back from a Saturday loss. "This was an important game for us,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I know it's early in the season, but we faced a little adversity. I kind of wanted to see how we responded today and I thought we responded in a positive way. We beat a really good pitcher today. Their starter was really good.” Miami starter Herick Hernandez came into the game with a 2-0 record and a 0.00 earned run average, but the Gators got to him for two runs in the first. After Luke Heyman reached on a two-out ground ball error, Shelton hit his fourth homer of the year down the left field line. In the fourth, Hernandez gave up back-to-back homers to lead off the inning. Evans hit an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left center and Shelnut followed with a homer to left field on a 1-0 count. Shelnut was ejected after crossing home plate for excessive celebration. Then came the fifth and another dose of the wrath of Cag. Leading off the inning, Caglianone launched a sub-orbital blast that was a no-doubter from the moment it left his bat. Caglianone followed his home run by striking out the side in the bottom half of the inning. He gave up a single and a double in the Miami sixth, but ended the threat with a strikeout on a wicked changeup for the third out. The strikeout was the 11th, a new personal record for Caglianone who threw 91 pitches while picking up his first win of the season. "Everybody talks about his arm strength and that type of thing,” O’Sullivan said. “I'll tell you what, the changeup today was as good as it has been in his career at Florida.” O’Sullivan made two mound visits during Caglianone’s six innings, but he explained, “Both visits I took with him were really just to give him a breather. Not for any other reason, just to kind of get his breath going and get his legs underneath him, so to speak. I can't say enough about how he played this entire weekend. The effort he gave. And then today on the mound, he was outstanding." In addition to the win on the mound Sunday, Caglianone was 7-14 at the plate with two homers and two RBI. It was 6-0 in the eighth when Miami pushed across four runs on a pinch-hit grand slam by Dorian Gonzalez Jr., but the Gators had an answer in the top of the ninth. Heyman went opposite field for a two-out single to right and Shelton followed by taking the first pitch he saw from Nick Robert over the wall in center field for his first multi-homer game as a Gator. Shelton hit 25 home runs as a freshman at Alabama last year. “Colby Shelton with two home runs and both were meaningful,” O’Sullivan said. “We got on the board there in the first, an 0-2 count, left-on-left and went the other way. When we gave up the four-spot in the eighth to bounce back and tack on two more to give us a four-run lead instead of a two-run lead, obviously is big. All in all it was a great day. Really pleased with how we responded from last night." The Gators return home Tuesday night (6 p.m., SEC Network+) to face Florida Atlantic, the first of a 10-game home stand. The Gators host UCF Wednesday night, Saint Mary’s for a 3-game weekend series, Florida State and Texas A&M for the first SEC series of the season before they hit the road again.

Florida Gators star Jac Caglianone was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week after a dominate showing in the series-finale against Miami on Sunday.

Florida claims sole possession of the 2024 SEC championship in gymnastics with a 198.225 to 198.10 victory in Lexington. It was senior night for Kentucky. They were looking to take a share of their first ever SEC title with third ranked senior star Raena Worley. Sounds familiar? As last week #2 LSU and #1 gymnast Haleigh Bryant wanted the crown. Well, Leanne Wong and the young Gators were not going to just roll over. Back-to-back weeks was the hype was on another gymnast. Leanne kept up a phenomenal run of four straight all-around titles with a 39.775. This team just keeps improving. After hitting the 198 score (an average of 9.9 over the whole meet), they set another season high score. Sux gymnasts competed, with Florida having the road rotation of Uneven Bars, Vault, Floor Exercise and Beam. The five highest scores counting. The recap: Anya Pilgrim’s reaction to getting a 10 on Floor. (UAA photo) Uneven Bars: (Last week: 49.225, Average: 49.350, 9th in the nation) -Sloane Blakely: Slight leg separations, nice hand stands, backflip landing with slight hop- 9.80 -Victoria Nguyen: Like separate, a little off on the low bar. Front flip landing, stuck- 9.85 -Gabby Disidore: Feet stuck together. Forward flip landing, hop. Strong routine- 9.9 -Ellie Lazzari: Springboard high bar start. High twist double back landing and falls forward or would have been a high score- 9.50 (The dropped score) -Anya Pilgrim: legs glued together, a little off on one hand stand. Double twist landing- 9.9 -Leanne Wong: Legs together, great handstands! Double layout landing, stuck. Perfect? – 9.975 Score: 49.425 Florida trails after one rotation by .075 Vault: (Last week: 49.60, National High, Average: 49.355, 4th in the nation) -Skylar Drasser: Yurchenko 1 ½ Great distance and stuck!- 9.95 -Sloane Blakely: Yurchenko 1 ½ Slight hop- 9.9 -Victoria Nguyen: Yurchenko 1 ½ Fell at the end but she’s ok- 9.5 (The dropped score) -Anya Pilgrim: Yurchenko 1 ½ Off to the side, hop- 9.825 -Dannie Ferris: Yurchenko 1 ½ Big distance and stuck landing.- 9.95 -Leanne Wong: Half turn with twist. Landing facing the table. Hop- 9.875 Score: 49.50 Florida trails by .025 after two rotations. Floor Exercise: (Last week: 49.70, season high. Average: 49.430, 14th in the nation) -Lori Brubach- First pass (The long runs from corner to corner) Front flip twist, steps out of bounds. Second pass: tuck double back flip, stuck dash 9.750 (The dropped score) -Victoria Nguyen: First pass: front double twist. Highly difficult. Great leaps and turns to classical music. Second pass: backflip twist dash 9.9 -Morgan Hurd: First pass: backed up or flip. Nailed it! Second pass: front layout to flip, stuck. Wonderful routine great to see her crush this floor routine- 9.95 -Anya Pilgrim: First pass: back double twist flip. Great flexibility. Second pass: high back double tuck flip, wow!- 10.0 What a wonderful reaction to getting a perfect score. The look on her face was priceless. Anya puts up the only perfect ten on the floor by a freshman this year in the country. -Sloane Blakely: First pass: flip to back flip twist. Second pass: back 1 ½ twist to flip. Great leaps- 9.925 -Leanne Wong: First pass: Back double layout. Nice leaps and twists. Second pass: Back whip to flip. Stuck- 9.95 Score: 49.725 New season high. Florida leads by .300 after three rotations. Beam: (Last week: 49.625, season high. Average: 49.425, 5th in the nation) -Skylar Draser: Double back flip, balance check. 1 1/2 twist dismount, stick- 9.85 -Sloane Blakely: Front flip to back flip, perfect. Side twist dismount, stuck- 9.9 - Anya Pilgrim: Springboard mount. Back double flip, perfect. Front flip, so smooth. Back hand spring, twist dismount, stuck- 9.95 - Ellie Lazzari: Triple series backflip, balance check. Big leaps. Side dismount, twist flip, stuck- 9.9 -Victoria Nguyen: Springboard mount. Back flip twist. Double leaps. Back handspring flip dismoun, hop- 9.825 (The dropped score) -Leanne Wong: Back Double flip. Front flip, flawless. Double twist dismount, stuck- 9.975 Where’s the Ten? Score: 49.575 Florida wins the Meet by .125 Exciting comeback after trailing midway for consecutive weeks. Florida continues to be at its best on Beam. 49.55, 49.625 and 49.575 the last three weeks. The surprise has been the huge improvement in the Floor Exercise. 49.6, 49.7 and 49.725. LSU and Kentucky's lowest score on Floor the last two meets was a 9.925, just incredibly high. Florida has turned this weakness into a strength. With a combination of surprising freshmen, Anya Pilgrim, Sloane Blakely’s turn around 9.925, 9.975 and 9.9 her last three routines and Leanne Wong’s constant flirtation with perfection. This team, without megastars Trinity Thomas and Kayla DiCello? just might have a shot at winning it all. The 198.225 today would have been high enough to win a national championship in 2022 (OU-198.20) and right behind the 2023 second place score Florida scored in the finals with a 198.2375,peeking at the end of the season, like most sports is what counts. Florida faces Nebraska, Eastern Michigan and Lindenwood in Lincoln Nebraska next. Will Florida keep up the 198 pace? Regardless, the Gators win the SEC regular season title outright for the sixth consecutive year. Spoiling Kentucky and LSU’s bid for at a share..

There is no defense for the free throw. That’s the story of Florida’s 82-76 loss to South Carolina in Columbia Saturday afternoon when the Gamecocks went to the line for 13 free throws during a 4-minute stretch of the second half when the entire complexion of the game shifted. The Gators (20-9, 10-6 SEC) had a 58-49 lead with 9:40 left in the game when the Gamecocks went on a 14-5 run to tie the game at 63-63 with 5:32 to go. Ten points, including the two from the line that tied the score came at the foul line. During that 4:08 stretch, the Gators committed eight personal fouls, turned the ball over four times and went 2-5 from the field, 0-0 from the foul line. Once the Gamecocks pulled even with Florida, it was a struggle for the Gators on both ends of the court. The combination of South Carolina’s ability to score at the line, too many Florida fouls and numerous empty was the deciding factor. When the final horn sounded, Florida’s mathematical shot at an SEC championship had been eliminated. The best the Gators can do now is 12 regular season SEC wins. South Carolina (24-5, 12-4 SEC) remains in the hunt for the title. The Gamecocks are a game behind league-leader Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC), an 81-74 winner over Alabama (20-9, 12-4 SEC) Saturday night. Free throws were the difference for the Gamecocks. They were 10-13 from the foul line during that critical 4-minute stretch and 16-22 in the second half. For the entire game, South Carolina was 23-31 at the line compared to Florida’s 12-15. The differential at the line was an obvious source of irritation for Florida coach Todd Golden. “They shot 31 free throws tonight, we shoot 15,” Golden said. “It’s going to be really hard to beat a top 25 team on the road with that disparity. I think both teams were really physical trying to get downhill and in the paint, but they shot 22 free throws in the second half, we shot 10. That’s just a really big delta to try and close. “I have to do a better job teaching my guys to defend without fouling. Obviously, these other teams that we’re playing are doing a better job of defending without fouling.” The Gators shot the ball well enough to win. Florida outscored the Gamecocks from the field 66-59, hitting 27-56 overall and 10-23 from the 3-point line. South Carolina was 25-53 from the field, 9-24 from the 3-point line. What happened at the foul line was just too great an obstacle for the Gators to overcome. Another issue for the Gators was ball security in the second half. Eight of Florida’s 12 turnovers for the game came in the second half. Those empty possessions were a killer because the only way the Gators could have countered South Carolina cashing in at the foul line was to get shots up. “South Carolina is physical,” Golden said. “They do a good job playing the ball, and if you’re not strong with it you’re going to put yourself in situations where they can take it. We were trying to kind of knife our way through the zone a little bit, and they’re long, they’re active. We just weren’t playing well in those tight spaces, and that led to most of those turnovers in the second half.” Florida’s inability to protect the ball and score with any consistency in the final minutes was partly due to South Carolina switching to a 1-3-1 zone. Against the man-to-man, it was a free-flowing game that saw the Gators lead, 37-31 at the half thanks to a 10-3 run at the end fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers by Walter Clayton Jr. The Gators picked up where they left off in the first eight minutes of the second half, taking a 56-46 lead with 12:29 to go on a pair of free throws by Zyon Pullin. Clayton hit a pair of threes in the first eight minutes as the Gators were on the verge of breaking the game wide open. After Alex Condon hit a pair of free throws with 11:29 remaining that made it a 58-49 game, the Gamecocks shifted to a 1-3-1 zone that gave the Gators fits. The zone caused ball security and ball movement issues, but the barrage of foul calls also took the Gators out of any rhythm. Golden didn’t think the Gators did a very good job of attacking the zone. “I thought it was obviously a good move, just to try to change the pace for them a little bit,” Golden said. “We just weren’t aggressive enough attacking it. We were just moving it a little too much side-to-side at the top, got it down early to the corners and had a turnover or two, which I think made us play on our heels a little bit. Really good length at the top with Zach Davis, and he does a good job playing that ball using his legs to kick a couple balls and just disrupting the top. We’ve got to be more aggressive attacking it. With that being said, we weren’t that aggressive and we turned it over a lot, so we really just didn’t attack it very well at all.” After South Carolina punched out a 70-68 lead with 3:24 to go, the Gators made a few shots, but they also turned the ball over four times. Empty possessions on offense combined with an inability to get stops on the defensive end were Florida’s undoing. The Gators got a 3-pointer from the corner by Riley Kugel with 1:56 to go that cut South Carolina’s lead to 72-71. One possession later, Clayton nailed another three to tie the score at 74-74 with 1:15 left, but the Gators couldn’t get stops nor any whistles in their favor and the game slipped away. Clayton hit six 3-pointers and finished the game with 20 points, but he was charged with six turnovers and the Gators were -19 when he was on the court. He didn’t try to deflect responsibility for his ball security issues. “I turned the ball over too much,” Clayton said. “Us not getting shots up, that’s on me.” Without Clayton’s offense, the Gators wouldn’t have had a shot at winning once the momentum of the game shifted to South Carolina. Fewer turnovers and maybe Florida would have pulled out a win. “It was a little give-and-take today,” Golden said. “He was a little loose with the ball. Walter is one of the best shooters in college basketball. He has the ability to beat a defense even if they play really good coverages and execute what they’re trying to do. I think he did that for a majority of the night and took the air out of the gym with some of the 3s that he hit. Again, that’s what makes him a special player. He’s a great contested jump shooter and does a really good job of stopping on a dime, creating space and lifting up into his jump shot. He hit some big ones for us tonight.” This is a game the Gators will need to flush from their memory. Alabama comes to the O-Dome Tuesday night and while the Gators are out of the SEC title picture, they still have a shot at a double-bye at the SEC Tournament. A win over Alabama and a road win over Vanderbilt to close out the regular season could get the double-bye, but it will take a little help for that to happen. Game notes: Pullin scored 18 points to go with four rebounds, seven assists and a single turnover. Tyrese Samuel scored 13 with four rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Kugel had 10 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal. Freshman Thomas Haugh had nine points, six rebounds and two assists. SEC BASKETBALL Saturday’s scores: No. 18 South Carolina (24-5, 12-4 SEC) 82, No. 24 FLORIDA (20-9, 10-6 SEC) 76; No. 4 Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC) 81, No. 14 Alabama (20-9, 12-4 SEC) 74; No. 11 Auburn (22-7, 11-5 SEC) 78, Mississippi State (19-10, 8-8 SEC) 63; No. 16 Kentucky (21-8, 11-5 SEC) 111, Arkansas (14-15, 5-11 SEC) 102; Ole Miss (20-9, 7-9 SEC) 84, Missouri (8-21, 0-16 SEC) 78; LSU (16-13, 8-8 SEC) 75, Vanderbilt (8-21, 3-13 SEC) 61; Texas A&M (16-13, 7-9 SEC) 70, Georgia (15-14, 5-11 SEC) 56 Tuesday’s games: No. 14 Alabama (20-9, 12-4 SEC) at No. 24 FLORIDA (20-9, 10-6 SEC); No. 11 Auburn (22-7, 11-5 SEC) at Missouri (8-21, 0-16 SEC); Ole Miss (20-9, 7-9 SEC) at Georgia (15-14, 5-11 SEC) Wednesday’s games: No. 4 Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC) at No. 18 South Carolina (24-5, 12-4 SEC); Vanderbilt (8-21, 3-13 SEC) at No. 16 Kentucky (21-8, 11-5 SEC); Mississippi State (19-10, 8-8 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-13, 7-9 SEC); LSU (16-13, 8-8 SEC) at Arkansas (14-15, 5-11 SEC)