GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida women's basketball team hosts its final Sunday home game when it welcomes No. 11 South Carolina to Gainesville on Feb. 17. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET and the contest has been designated as the team's Play4Kay Pink Game. All fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.
The contest will be streamed live on SEC Network+ and broadcast live on ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM with Kyle Crooks and Brittany Davis on the call.
Game Notes UF |
Game Notes USC
The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a FREE Florida Gators pink t-shirt in the main lobby. Sunday also marks the final Sundae Sunday game of the season and fans are invited to hang out with the team for ice cream and autographs following the game. In addition, the Florida women's basketball program will welcome and celebrate all alumni as part of Alumni Weekend in Gainesville.
Florida will host two events on Sunday afternoon as baseball continues its season-opening series with Long Beach State Sunday at noon. The O'Connell Center parking lot and garage offers free parking for both events, but fans are also encouraged to take advantage of the FREE shuttle that runs from Garage IX at the Intersection of Gale Lemerand Drive and Archer Road to the O'Dome. The shuttle begins at Noon and runs until one hour after the conclusion of the women's basketball game.
The Gators return to action following a bye week. Last time out Florida took on Georgia in Athens on Sunday, Feb. 10 and suffered a 93-58 setback. Despite featuring four in double figures and draining 11 three-pointers, UF came up short in the 73rd meeting between the programs. Kiki Smith netted a team-high 15 while
Emanuely de Oliveira registered a career-high 11 points but Florida's defense was unable to find an answer for the Bulldogs who finished the game shooting 58.2 percent from the floor.
Florida and South Carolina Jan. 10 in Columbia as the then No. 24 Gamecocks came away with a 71-40 victory. South Carolina opened the game on a 19-0 run and at a point in the first quarter made eight-consecutive shots and despite outscoring the Gamecocks in the second quarter, Florida fell in the road tilt. Sophomore guard Kiki Smith netted a team-high 13 points while
Funda Nakkasoglu dropped 10.
South Carolina is one of three teams Florida will take on twice during conference play the other two are Alabama, which the Gators split with, and Georgia which the Gators will play again on Senior Night on Feb. 28.
Florida holds a 20-18 advantage in the series that dates back to 1979. The Gamecocks have claimed the last nine meetings between the programs after Florida recorded victories in the previous nine. UF owns an 8-9 record in matchups played in Gainesville.
Sunday marks No. 11 South Carolina's third game of the week as it fell at 79-97 at No. 4 UConn in Hartford on Monday and defeated Georgia, 65-57 on Thursday at home. The Gamecocks have won 14 of their last 16 games and their two losses during that span came against programs ranked within the nation's top seven. South Carolina, which is tied for first place in the SEC with a 10-1 league record, features a potent offensive unit that averages 75.5 points per game, the third most in the conference. USC also ranks top four in the league in field goal percentage and three-point percentage. On the defensive side, the Gamecocks have blocked 150 shots on the season which trails only Georgia's 151. Tennessee transfer Te'a Cooper leads the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game whole Alexis Jennings is the team's top rebounder at 5.8 per contest. Averaging 4.6 assists per game, Tyasha Harris leads the team and ranks sixth in the SEC. South Carolina is under the direction of 11th-year head coach Dawn Staley who has led the program to four SEC regular-season titles, four-consecutive SEC Tournament titles and a National Championship in 2017.
Sunday begins a stretch in which Florida will play three out of four games at home before concluding its 2018-19 regular season on the road at Vanderbilt. Following the Gators' battle with the Gamecocks, they will next return to the court Thursday, Feb. 21 when they travel to LSU.
Florida at South Carolina Broadcast Info
Time & Date: Sunday, Feb. 17
Live Stream: SEC Network+
Live Stats: Link
Radio: ESPN 98.1FM/850 AM WRUF
Records: Florida (6-18, 2-9) | South Carolina (18-6, 10-1)
Notables
- Between her Utah State and Florida careers, Funda Nakkasoglu has scored 1,927 points. Her total is the second highest mark among active players in the SEC (trailing just Sophie Cunningham, 2,015) and 19th among all active NCAA I players. In her 50 game career with UF she has scored 788 points and her 15.6 points per game average is the sixth-highest in program history. Her 142 three-pointers made are the seventh most in program history and her .398 mark from three-point range is the best in program history.
- Funda Nakkasoglu has knocked down 66 three-pointers this season and is just 10 away from surpassing her total from a season ago. Nakkasoglu's 76 three-pointers in 2017-18 were the fifth most in a single season in program history.
- Sophomore Kiki Smith has really hit her stride in SEC play. The left-handed lead guard has increased her scoring average significantly and upped her three-point shooting percentage by over 30%. During SEC action, Smith is tied for second on the team in scoring and is the team's leading three-point shooter in terms of percentage. Smith has led Florida in scoring in three league contests after not doing so once during the non-conference slate.
- The Gators are 4-3 in Sunday games played at home.
- Taking on the No. 11 Gamecocks, UF will look to knock off a ranked foe for the first time since Feb. 4, 2016 when it defeated No. 12 Texas A&M, 83-81 in Gainesville.
- Through 24 games, as a team Florida has drained 190 three-pointers which is the fifth-most in program history. The Gators set the program record with 249 made treys a season ago in Newbauer's first season at the helm in Gainesville.
- Florida recorded 11 three-pointers vs. Georgia, finishing with double-digit three-pointers for the eighth time this season and fifth time in its 11 SEC contests. Florida registered double-digit treys in consecutive games (10 vs. Alabama, 11 vs. Georgia) for the second time this season and first since in connected for 12 and 11 vs. Alabama and Auburn, respectively, in early January.
- In SEC play, Florida is the league's top three-point shooting team, averaging 8.4 made treys per contest.
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