South Carolina at Florida Spread, Lines & TV Info

Arguably the biggest game in college basketball on Tuesday is from the SEC when No. 21 South Carolina – although it likely will fall out of the new polls on Monday – visits No. 15 Florida. The Gators are tied atop the SEC with Kentucky, while USC is two games back. UF will be a solid favorite on college basketball spreads.

South Carolina at Florida Spread, Betting Lines & TV Info

Sindarius Thornwell reflects on choosing South Carolina, unfinished business & everything in between. @Sin_City_803 pic.twitter.com/4Z05N5fxg7

— Gamecock MBB (@GamecockMBB) February 20, 2017

When: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 7 PM ET Where: Exactech Arena, Gainesville TV: ESPN Stream: WatchESPN Radio: South Carolina / Florida Opening NCAAB Lines: Florida favored by TBA

Why Bet On South Carolina?

USC (20-7, 9-5) lost its third of four games at Vanderbilt on Saturday, 71-62. It was a refrain of the others, and of recent games USC managed to win – the Gamecocks’ once-fearsome defense has become exposed, and USC couldn’t supply near-enough offense to help SEC Player of the Year candidate Sindarius Thornwell. Thornwell finished with 21 but USC again got nearly nothing from its bench (a mere five points). USC hit one 3-pointer, in the final 30 seconds, and missed nine free throws. The Gamecocks had 12 turnovers against the SEC’s second-worst team in forcing turnovers. USC was out-scored 24-9 in the final 9:40. The dagger from the Vanderbilt game was also free throws. Thornwell: a perfect 9 of 9. Outside of Thornwell, an abysmal 4 of 13, including an 0 of 5 performance from P.J. Dozier at the line. Three-point defense, once a strength for the team coming into the second half of SEC play (remember when they held Florida to 0 of 17?), has fallen apart in crucial situations. Dozier had 15 points and Chris Silva tallied 14 to join Thornwell in double figures for the Gamecocks. Matthew Fisher-Davis led the way for Vanderbilt with 17 points, as Vanderbilt shot 50 percent (11-for-22) from the floor and 44 percent from 3 (7-for- 16) in the second half. Over the last four games, Thornwell has scored 120 points (30.0 avg.). Thornwell has accounted for more than 35 percent of his team’ scoring over that stretch. Dozier’s seven rebounds matched his most in SEC play. He had seven in the conference opener at Georgia on Jan. 4. Carolina aims for its 11th SEC win of the campaign on Tuesday. It would mark the second-straight season with 11 league wins, and it would tie for the second-most all-time (15 in 1997).

Why Bet On Florida?

The Gators won at Mississippi State 57-52 on Saturday. Florida finally found some momentum in the second half of the game, to take a 12-point lead, but Mississippi State came storming back to tie the game at 52 with 2:24 remaining. The Gators answered with a clutch offensive rebound and layup by Kevarrius Hayes to go ahead and strong defense to finish the game. It was the first game since John Egbunu went down with a torn ACL, so Florida’s defense was in question. Florida held Mississippi State to 36 percent (22-for- 61) from the field and just nine percent (2-for- 23) from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs came into the game third in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage. The Gators outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-38. The 16 turnovers committed by the Gators allowed the Bulldogs to take nine additional shots and score 17 points, which made the game much closer than it otherwise should have been. Despite the win, Florida saw a second key player go down with injury in as many games. Graduate transfer guard Canyon Barry injured his ankle in the final minutes of the game with replay showing him rolling it in a significant manner. He badly limped to the bench and did not return to the contest. The program has since released that “Barry’s ankle should be fine,” with coach Mike White noting that the player wanted to return to the game. Chris Chiozza led Florida with 14 points, KeVaughn Allen chipped in 11 and Hayes finished with 9 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks in his first game moving back into the starting lineup for Egbunu. South Carolina defeated Florida, 57-53, last month in Columbia, S.C. That first meeting was an offensive struggle for both teams as the Gamecocks shot just 29.4 percent from the field and the Gators shot 35.2 percent, including an 0-for- 17 line from 3-point range, ending a streak of 850 consecutive games with a long-range basket that was the longest in the NCAA. The Gators last went 0-from- behind the arc in an 80-61 loss to Kentucky in 1992. Thornwell scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half.

South Carolina at Florida Betting Lines: Florida Gators

Go Gators on NCAA odds as long as Barry does play.