Johnson leads South Carolina against No. 14 Florida after 26-point showing

Audio By Carbonatix

South Carolina Gamecocks (11-14, 2-10 SEC) at Florida Gators (19-6, 10-2 SEC)

Gainesville, Florida; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: South Carolina plays No. 14 Florida after Meechie Johnson Jr. scored 26 points in South Carolina's 89-75 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Gators are 11-1 in home games. Florida leads college basketball with 42.8 rebounds per game led by Rueben Chinyelu averaging 11.9.

The Gamecocks are 2-10 against SEC opponents. South Carolina averages 9.4 turnovers per game and is 5-10 when turning the ball over less than opponents.

Florida scores 86.5 points, 10.6 more per game than the 75.9 South Carolina allows. South Carolina has shot at a 44.1% rate from the field this season, 3.6 percentage points greater than the 40.5% shooting opponents of Florida have averaged.

The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Thomas Haugh is scoring 17.5 points per game with 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the Gators. Chinyelu is averaging 13.6 points and 14.1 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Johnson averages 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Gamecocks, scoring 16.7 points while shooting 33.1% from beyond the arc. Kobe Knox is shooting 52.3% and averaging 12.9 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Gators: 9-1, averaging 89.0 points, 41.3 rebounds, 17.3 assists, 8.2 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.8 points per game.

Gamecocks: 1-9, averaging 70.9 points, 27.4 rebounds, 11.2 assists, 6.0 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 40.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 86.0 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.