South Carolina 57, Florida 53: Gators lay bricks and egg in Columbia

The Florida Gators men’s basketball team fell to 14-4 and 5-1 in SEC play on Wednesday night, falling to the South Carolina Gamecocks and their fantastic defense in a 57-53 decision.

What happened to get to that score is what made the game more than eyesore.

Florida and South Carolina didn’t score until after the under-16 timeout in the first half. Kasey Hill, who scored the game’s first four points, didn’t score after halftime — and still almost led Florida in scoring on the night.

Canyon Barry — who did lead Florida in scoring with 13 points — went 0-for-6 from three, part of an 0-for-17 performance from deep that stopped the Gators’ streak of consecutive games with a made three at 850.

KeVaughn Allen scored one point. So did Keith Stone.

Florida committed 27 fouls — some far more justified than others — and made just 19 field goals, just three of them arguably outside the paint.

Florida made just 15 of 28 free throws.

And despite holding South Carolina to 29.4 percent shooting on the evening, Florida didn’t lead at any point in the final 16:52 of play — or pull even with the Gamecocks at any point after South Carolina pulled forward with 13:35 on the clock.

This was an unsightly, dispiriting loss, exacerbated by the end of a streak held dear by some fans as an amusing quirk of Florida’s program. About the best thing that can be said about it is that Mike White has so, so many things to use as points of emphasis before Vanderbilt rolls into the O’Connell Center on Saturday.