USC vs UF Preview: 3/27/17

Madison Square Garden, NY- No, this is not another Saturday night SEC football showdown. This is the Elite 8 matchup between two teams who have proved that the SEC is a conference that should not be taken lightly. It is the Florida Gators versus the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The road to get here for the Gamecocks has been marked by surprise and intrigue.

3/17/19- Their first game was widely regarded as one of the easier upsets to pick in the round of 64. The Gamecocks had other plans in mind though. They routed 10th seeded Marquette, 93-73. USC was led by no other than SEC player of the year, Sindarius Thornwell, who dumped in 29 points and 11 rebounds. After forcing a whopping 18 turnovers, USC can truely take what Thornwell said to heart, which is, "We pride ourselves on our defense." South Carolina shot 52.2% from the field but struggled from the line not even making 70% of their free throws.

3/19/17- Just 2 days after beating up on Marquette, the Gamecocks had a much more talented rival in town; The Duke Blue Devils. Across the country, almost nobody predicted South Carolina to come on top against the team that the Vegas Superbook had at the best odds to win the tournament. Despite not being backed by the rest of the country, one person did seriously believe in them. Mike Martin. The head coach of this underdog squad believes his team is capable of achieving anything and he is a big reason to why they are winning. They outshot Duke from the field and Sindarius Thornwell had another marvelous game, going for 24 points and 5 assists. Again, their defense forced 18 turnovers against a very talented Duke offense. They out-rebounded and out-hustled Duke. It seemed as though USC simply wanted the game more than Duke.

3/24/17- Following their surprising upset of the then 2 seeded Blue Devils, USC was going to face the 3 seeded Baylor Bears in a Sweet 16 game that no one expected. South Carolina just kept riding out the magic as they steamrolled Baylor 70-50. The Gamecocks pulled down 40 rebounds, forced 16 turnovers, and outshot Baylor by almost 16% from the field. Sindarius Thornwell, yet again, led the Gamecocks with 24 points, as he and his teammates managed to hand the Bears their worst loss in the NCAA tournament.

The Gators route to this Elite 8 matchup is a little different.

3/16/17- In the first round of this tournament, the Gators were taking on an underrated ETSU team that had potential to knock them off. The Gators made sure that didn't happen by winning, 80-65. Devin Robinson led the charge with 24 points and 7 rebounds as UF shot nearly 50% from the field and almost 80% from the charity strike. Despite winnng by 15 points, they still needed to work out a few kinks. They shot a worse 3 point percentage than ETSU and had 15 turnovers which is much to high for this talented Gators team. UF did have a serious weapon in Chris Chiozza off the bench who had 14 points and is a spark plug on both ends of the court.

3/18/17- In 48 hours something must've clicked for this team. They were taking on a skilled UVA team that had potential to make it pretty deep in the tournament this year. This was not UVA's year though. The Gators absolutely obliterated them, trouncing them 65-39. UF held the Cavaliers to an abysmal 6.7% from the 3 point line, out-rebounded them, forced 11 turnovers, and outshot UVA by almost 17%. The Gators dominated in almost every aspect of the game.

3/24/17- Who would've thought that the Gators would be able to stop a red hot Wisconsin team that just knocked off the 1 seeded Villanova Wildcats. In what was a tight contest throughout its entirety, the Gators won in overtime off a last second 3 point heave from Chris Chiozza. UF narrowly pulled out the victory 84-83. Florida got beat in a lot of major categories but still managed to find away to come out on top. They were led by KeVaughn Allen who had 35 points and Chris Chiozza had a great game off the bench. When asked about Chiozza's shot, head coach Mike white said, "That is something for the rest of his life that he'll be remembered for."

What would be more memorable though is a bid to the Final 4.

Keys for USC: South Carolina needs to make their free throws down the stretch, something they haven't been doing consistently. Also, they need to continue to apply pressure on the defensive end. Sindarius Thornwell has to fill that big role for one more game if they want to make it to the Fianl 4 and Chris Silva has to be a dominating force in the paint

Keys for UF: The Gators need to establish their presence in the post early and KeVaughn Allen needs to score. Devin Robinson has to continue to be a factor on the offensive end and Chris Chiozza has to have another great game off the bench.

Prediction: The clock will strike midnight for the Gamecocks and the Florida Gators will return to the Final 4 for the first time since 2014.