South Carolina is on the road this week, traveling to Florida to face its third-ranked opponent. The Gamecocks battled hard Saturday night against an experienced Tennessee Volunteers team, but ultimately came away with a loss.
A little less than a year ago, the Gamecocks played Florida in South Carolina's first ever Elite Eight. They beat the Gators 77-70 to advance to the Final Four. The two will finally face each other again, but with a much different feel.
The Gamecocks are traveling to Gainesville, Florida to face a confident No. 20 Florida Gators team. Florida is coming off a win against Kentucky that propelled them into the top 25 and knocked the Wildcats out of the top 25 for the first time since 2014.
The Gators are sitting atop the SEC with a 6-1 conference record. Florida is a team that is capable of scoring a lot of points, but the Gamecocks defense is notorious for holding opponents below their scoring averages. Nonetheless, the game will require strong performances and leadership from experienced players like Chris Silva.
South Carolina is at the point in its conference schedule where they need wins. The Gamecocks are sitting in the middle of the SEC with a conference record of 3-4. The Gamecocks are tied with five other teams with four conference losses.
A road win against a formidable opponent such as Florida could boost the confidence of the players to finish the last half of conference play on a good note.
With so many new pieces and first-year players, it could become a concern that fatigue could start to affect the overall play of the team. It wouldn't be surprising to see Frank Martin start to play more of his players in an effort to conserve his team's stamina as a whole.
Unfortunately for Martin and his team, the schedule doesn't get any easier down the stretch, which could make playing inexperienced players tough.