March Madness: South Carolina defeats Florida to advance to first Final Four in program history

Dave DeLuca

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March Madness: South Carolina defeats Florida to advance to first Final Four in program history image

South Carolina is rewriting its history books once again.

Behind another fabulous performance from star Sindarius Thornwell Sunday, No. 7 seed South Carolina defeated No. 4 Florida to advance to its first Final Four in program history.

Thornwell scored a game-high 26 points on 8 of 13 shooting to shoulder the Gamecocks' offensive attack.

After a red-hot shooting performance in the first half, the Gators cooled off in the second half. Florida shot 7 of 12 from the 3-point line in the first half, then went a dreadful 0 for 12 in the second half as the Gamecocks' in-your-face defense cooled off Florida's hot hands. 

When asked after the game what went wrong, Florida coach Mike White was frank.

"South Carolina," he said. "That's it."

South Carolina, who entered the NCAA Tournament with 100-1 odds to win the national championship, becomes just the third No. 7 seed ever to advance to the Final Four. 

Highlights

 

 

South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell is already showing off.

Duane Notice uses a savvy ball fake to get the defender and the air and slashes to the hoop.

At halftime, Florida led South Carolina, 40-33. Florida's 3-point shooting was a big reason why. They shot 7-for-12 from three. Justin Leon led Florida with 13 first-half points and shooting 3 of 5 from three. Thornwell led all scorers with 15.

Early in the second half, we already have a highlight. No, the Gators and Gamecocks were not involved. This is all Verne Lundquist.

 

South Carolina doing South Carolina things. The Gamecocks hold Florida scoreless from more than three minutes to grab the lead.

 

South Carolina's active hands on the perimeter really flustered Florida.

 

Florida stuck around because of the Gamecocks' poor free throw shooting, but this dunk by Duane Notice clinched the win.

 

 

Here's what Florida coach Mike White had to say after the game.

 

Dave DeLuca

Dave DeLuca is an intern at Sporting News and a recent graduate of Buffalo State. He's a former intern and digital editor at The Buffalo News and executive editor of The Record, Buffalo State's student-run newspaper.