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Gators women push to learn from loss to No. 1 South Carolina

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Gators women push to learn from loss to No. 1 South Carolina


GAINESVILLE — SEC schedule makers appeared to do the Florida women’s basketball team few favors pitting them against top-ranked juggernaut South Carolina to open league play.

Gators coach Kelly Rae Finley instead viewed Thursday’s night 89-66 loss at O’Connell Center as valuable experience for a program pushing to return to the NCAA Tournament.

“I love it. Our team loves it,” she said. “Any time you get the chance to play the best it’s going to be a really good thing for us.”

Finley sees long-term benefits exposing her players to the gold standard in the women’s game early in the season.

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“There’s a lot of things to learn from this game,” she said. “It gives us an opportunity in our SEC opener.”

The top-ranked Gamecocks (14-0, 1-0 SEC) looked the part.

Dawn Staley’s juggernaut steamrolled the Gators (9-4, 0-1) to stake a 21-6 lead and pulled away for good with a 15-0 run to open the third quarter.

To reach the NCAA Tournament for the second time in Finley’s three seasons, the Gators will have to grow from the experience.

“We have a decision to make after this game,” veteran guard Zippy Broughton said. “We can either have a pity party for ourselves or use this as an opportunity to have good film and learn from it.”

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Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley is 49-30 in her third season at UF after inheriting a team that was 46-71 during the previous four. (Mark Humphrey/AP)

The Gators were unable to match the Gamecocks’ talent, depth and experience.

Yet, Staley, whose 2017 and ’22 teams won national titles, gave Finley’s squad the ultimate compliment, praising the Gators’ hard-nosed play.

“They’ll win a lot of basketball games in our league if they continue to play as aggressively as they did with us,” Staley, a 53-year-old Hall of Fame player, said.

Finley was happy to hear her fellow coach’s observations.

“They’re physical, they’re strong, they’re skilled, they play hard, their transitions are elite,” she said. “That’s what our focus is.”

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The Gators’ toughest matchup to date is likely to be the most difficult on the regular-season schedule. After all, South Carolina now won 55 of 56 games and 16 straight overall in their series with UF.

“There’s a reason they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Finley said.

Outside of a Feb. 5 trip to defending national champion LSU, the Gators will not face another opponent currently ranked in the Top 25.

Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley aims to lead the Gators to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in her three seasons in Gainesville. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley aims to lead the Gators to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in her three seasons in Gainesville. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP)

Last season UF failed to build on a surprising debut season under Finley, finishing 5-11 in SEC play after going 10-6 and 21-11 overall to reach the 2022 Big Dance. A run to the 2023 WNIT quarterfinals left the Gators 18-15 and with some positive momentum after a difficult, injury-riddled season.

Shooting guard Leilani Correa battled a leg injury much of her first season after transferring from St. Johns. Against South Carolina, the 6-foot senior scored 17 straight points to finish the first half with 21 points and her team trailing 48-34.

“My team needed me,” she said. “Even before the game, I was just locked in.”

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South Carolina took charge to open the third quarter as UF missed 7 field goals and committed 4 turnovers while the Gamecocks locked down Correa, who shot 2 of 5 after intermission but finished with a season-high 27 points.

“We just bore down and started defending them a lot better than we did in the first half,” Staley said.

UF center Ra Shaya Kyle’s layup with 6:01 remaining in the quarter were the first points for the Gators, who were outscored 25-12 to trail 73-46 entering the final 10 minutes.

Kyle totaled 12 points, but just 3 rebounds — 7.1 below her season average. A season ago, though, the 6-foot-6 senior was not fully recovered from an ACL tear before transferring from Purdue.

An off night by leading scorer Aliyah Matharu, who was 3 of 18 for 10 points, 9 below her average, was difficult to overcome against a team entering Thursday with an average winning margin of 41 points.

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But the Gators expect better — and easier — days are ahead.

“We’ve been putting in the work,” Correa said.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com



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Did the College Football Playoff Field Open Up Enough for South Carolina?

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Did the College Football Playoff Field Open Up Enough for South Carolina?


After this weekend’s action, did the college football playoff open up enough for South Carolina to get in?

It was a chaotic weekend of college football as Ole Miss lost to Florida, Oklahoma dominated Alabama, Auburn beat Texas A&M in a thriller, Ohio State handled Indiana and Kansas upset Colorado. A lot of teams that were ahead of the South Carolina Gamecocks in the rankings, but the more important question is did enough spots open up for South Carolina to potentially sneak in?

The Gamecocks will certainly rise closer to the top 12 in the next release of the rankings. They came in at No. 18 this last week and will likely be somewhere around 15 in this week’s rankings. South Carolina might have been too far back to be on the back end of the playoff this go around, but they are certainly inching closer and closer.

There is however one problem for South Carolina. Despite Alabama losing, the Crimson Tide have virtually every edge for a playoff spot over the Gamecocks if a decision came down between them. Alabama has the head to head, they have the better win against Georgia, South Carolina lost to LSU and Alabama dominated LSU on the road. South Carolina does have the better strength of schedule ranking, but that hasn’t seemed to matter too much to the college football playoff committee.

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The bottom line is South Carolina has played like on the best teams in college football as of late and has certainly done enough to put themselves into the conversation. However, if the decision came down to “which three loss SEC team do we want to put in?” the Crimson Tide likley check more boxes than South Carolina does.

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South Carolina at Clemson odds: Early point spread released for Palmetto Bowl, How to Watch

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South Carolina at Clemson odds: Early point spread released for Palmetto Bowl, How to Watch


South Carolina and Clemson are set to meet in a game that could potentially carry some College Football Playoff implications, however slim they may be.

The Tigers are looking to crack into the field with two losses, and they need every bit of momentum they can get to continue their climb up the rankings. A win over a very good Gamecocks team would certainly help.

According to lines listed by FanDuel, Clemson will open as a 2.5-point favorite over South Carolina in the contest. The game’s over/under point total has also been set at 51.5 points.

That sets the expectation going into the game: The Tigers are favored by a bit, but certainly not enough that you can make any sweeping generalizations about how the game should go. The Gamecocks can wreck games with their defensive line.

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How to watch South Carolina at Clemson

Time: 12 p.m. ET, Nov. 30
Channel: ESPN, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Memorial Stadium — Clemson, SC

Both teams have had a significant turnaround in the second half of the season after starting a bit slow out of the gates.

South Carolina had winnable games against LSU and Alabama slip by, but the Gamecocks have now ripped off five straight wins behind an improved sense of confidence and crisp execution from LaNorris Sellers and company.

The Gamecocks are playing with a different edge, perhaps following the tone set by a defensive line that can absolutely undress opponents at times. The Tigers will have to find a way to block that very good defensive front.

But Clemson has been good in its own right of late. The Tigers did let a game against Louisville slip away, but they’ve won nine of the last 10 games and have looked dominant in a few of them.

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Both teams are coming off blowouts of inferior opponents, so they should be both well-rested and ready to roll on rivalry weekend.

Vegas has the Clemson-South Carolina contest pegged as a pretty close game, so buckle up and get ready for another edition of one of the south’s top rivalries.



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Gamecock uniform report for South Carolina-Wofford

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Gamecock uniform report for South Carolina-Wofford


Saturday marks the final home game of the 2024 season for South Carolina. The in-state and 5-6 Wofford Terriers will drive down I-26 from Spartanburg to Columbia to take on the 7-3 Gamecocks. Williams-Brice Stadium is sold out again, completing the program goal of filling the stands for all seven home games this fall.

Through the first ten games of the season, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team has not repeated a uniform combination. Alternating garnet, black, and white helmets, jerseys, and pants, the Gamecocks also have mixed in some additional looks with throwbacks, alternate face masks, and updated helmet stickers and stripes.

On Saturday, the trend will end as South Carolina will repeat a uniform combination for the first time this season.

[GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days and 50% off first year]

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Around lunchtime, the Gamecock Football account on Twitter/X hinted at the gameday uniform combination. The post showed a picture of what looked like the team’s throwback white helmets in front of an American flag.

Then, a little while later, the social media team revealed the rest of the gameday combination.

South Carolina has once again will rock its 1980 throwback uniforms. The Gamecocks also wore the look during the team’s blowout win over Akron earlier this season.

Saturday is Salute the Troops Day at Williams-Brice Stadium and also Senior Day.

The full list of Senior Day participants can be found here.

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