College basketball

Tonight: No.5 Florida at South Carolina

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published January 25, 2006

WHEN/WHERE: 8; Colonial Center, Columbia, S.C. TV/RADIO: Sun Sports; 1250-AM. RECORDS: UF - 17-1, 3-1 SEC; South Carolina - 10-8, 1-4.

COACHES: UF - Billy Donovan (210-93, 10th season; 245-113 overall); South Carolina - Dave Odom (87-63, fifth season; 365-237).

NOTABLE: Florida is coming off its first loss, a game decided in the final 20 seconds, which prevented the Gators from taking over the No. 1 spot in the AP poll. The Gators went 336 days between regular-season losses. ... The Gators received some good news Tuesday afternoon: Starting forward Corey Brewer's sprained right ankle has improved over the past 48 hours, and he may play tonight. He did not practice Tuesday but participated in light activity. ... The Gamecocks are coming off a tough loss of their own against Kentucky. ... Florida had its fewest points of the season Saturday night and will face a USC defense that is allowing 63.8 points per game. But the most critical issue is, how will the Gators respond in their first game since a loss? Fifth-year senior Adrian Moss summed it up this way: "We can either go two ways with this. We can learn from it and become the best ballclub that we can become or we can let this loss turn into two losses, then three losses. I've been on a team where one loss has turned into two and three losses. But I don't see this team doing that. We've got a bunch of fighters, we've got a bunch of warriors and we're going to go back to ashy knuckles and get it done. That's all we know how to do."

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:56:11]