Florida basketball uses strong second half, to blowout South Carolina
Florida basketball uses strong second half, to blowout South Carolina
It took about half the game to pull away, but No. 3 Florida took down South Carolina, 88-67, on Saturday night.
The Gators played without at least one starter for a fourth consecutive game, as projected first-round draft pick and forward Alex Condon sat on the bench with a sprained ankle. The good news is that guard Alijah Martin returned to action, as did center Micah Handlogten, who suffered a broken leg in the SEC Championship Game last season. Both came off the bench and played significant minutes.
Denzel Aberdeen and Thomas Haugh moved into the starting lineup and made the most of the opportunity. Aberdeen led all scorers with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and went 5-of-7 from 3-point range over 30 minutes. Haugh finished the night with 20 points and six rebounds. Both players recorded three assists.
The scoring from Aberdeen and Haugh made the difference as Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard only combined for 18 points. Despite the unusual down night from Florida's top guards — Martin had 11 off the bench — Florida led by double digits for most of the second half.
It's an expected win over a South Carolina team that is now 0-12 in SEC play, but things stayed close until the break. Here are three major takeaways from Saturday's win.
Denzel Aberdeen coming into his own
Aberdeen was the odd man out in the guard rotation at the start of the season, but he's matured throughout the season and stepped up big in the wake of injuries to Clayton and Martin. He's become comfortable as a key cog in the system and seems to embrace the role of unsung hero.
Over the last four games, he's averaging 16 points and is shooting above 50% from beyond the arc. He's a reliable scoring option and should retain the confidence built over the past two weeks when he returns to the sixth-man role. It's nice enough to see a player find his role on a team full of superstar talent, but there's a unique magnifying glass on Aberdeen.
He's the only guard who plays significant minutes with another year of eligibility, and now he looks like he can run the show in Gainesville alongside Isaiah Brown and Urban Klavzar. The Gators could always bring in a guard from the transfer portal to bolster the backcourt, but Aberdeen feels like a 2025-26 starter given the steps forward he's taken.
Welcome back, Micah Handlogten
When a player snaps his leg in half mid-game, the hope is simply that he will one day return to the court. Handlogten has already exceeded expectations, healing up in less than year and burning his medical redshirt to help Florida win down the stretch.
Before the injury, Handlogten was evolving into one of the better big men in the SEC, and he showed flashes of being that same player Saturday night. A defensive juggernaut, Handlogten got right back to business, blocking two shots and recording two steals. He only recorded three rebounds, perhaps playing a bit less aggressively as he finds his footing, but there was no fear when diving for a loose ball. He also added five assists, which is unique in Florida's frontcourt.
There's still rust to shake off, but Handlogten looks like he can be a factor almost immediately for Florida, especially once Condon returns. He played 20 minutes on Saturday, three more minutes than starter Rueben Chinyelu.
This might be the best team in the country
Plenty of experts have suggested that Florida could be the best team in the country. The Gators have earned first-place votes in the AP Top 25 Poll and are currently projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Anything short of a Final Four run may feel like a disappointment, assuming everyone is healthy come March.
It was Handlogten's injury that broke the team last year and led to a first-round exit in the Big Dance, but now there's a considerable amount of depth on the roster and the team is working through adversity. Knocking off two No. 1 programs has the nation paying attention to the Orange and Blue, and they're right to. Florida is dominant on both ends of the court, dangerous in transition and getting deeper as a roster day by day.
The sky's the limit for this roster, and Saturday's second-half blowout says everything is pointing in the right direction.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
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