Thomas Haugh, No. 19 Florida detonate South Carolina
Thomas Haugh scored 18 points Wednesday night, Rueben Chinyelu posted a double-double and No. 19 Florida led nearly wire to wire on its way to a 95-48 Southeastern Conference road rout of South Carolina in Columbia.
Chinyelu added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Gators (15-6, 6-2), while Urban Klavzar came off the bench to chip in 11 points. Alex Condon stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Boogie Fland contributed 10 points and six assists.
Florida canned 38 of 61 shots from the field, including 9 of 21 3-pointers, and earned a 45-24 advantage on the boards. The Gators drew a whopping 28 assists, getting nine from Xaivian Lee.
Eli Ellis scored 13 points in a reserve role for the Gamecocks (11-10, 2-6) and Meechie Johnson added 10 but it wasn't close to being enough. South Carolina sank just 15 of 58 attempts from the field, including a measly 3 of 20 on 3-pointers.
Florida led by 28 at halftime and wasted little time proving it would cruise to the finish line with a quick 8-2 burst to start the second half. Fland dunked off a Lee feed for a 56-22 cushion and the Gators kept expanding the margin with steady execution on both ends.
The main storyline prior to tip-off was if Florida could get its frontcourt going offensively in a way it couldn't Saturday in a 76-67 home loss to Auburn. Haugh scored 27 points but Condon, the team's second-leading scorer, managed only one point.
While Condon took time to get untracked, plenty of other Gators heated up quickly. Klavzar got the offense started with consecutive 3-pointers that gave them an 18-8 lead at the 10:36 mark. Chinyelu capped a 15-0 run with a mid-range jumper for a 35-11 cushion with 3:51 left.
The margin grew to 30 when Lee converted a layup with 35.0 seconds remaining. Florida headed for halftime with a comfortable 48-20 advantage.