Florida-South Carolina: Gators Lose on Last Millisecond Dunk

Written by Ryan Collins, Gatorsfirst.com Staff Writer

Wow. Unbelievable. With the Gators leading by one, Chandler Parsons had a bonus free throw opportunity with 3.3 seconds left and missed the front end. What happens next? A long pass and 3.2 painfully long seconds later, it's a Gamecock victory. How did this happen? It was a South Carolina run-out dunk with 0.1 seconds left. Ouch.

The Gators' men's basketball team played well tonight against the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia. Nick "Wonderboy" Calathes lived up to his nickname and stood ready to be crowned player of the game. Wonderboy hit many huge three-pointers and had a clutch reverse lay-up with a minute left in the game. But he also missed the front end of a bonus free throw situation with 10 seconds left.

5'8" Erving Walker (OPOTB) got into a short man teardrop-shot competition with 5'9" USC guard Devan Downey. When Walker was blocked by the 5'9" guy at the end of the first, half, the night turned sour for the freshman. He proceeded to have three costly second half turnovers.

Dan Werner had four very nice assists and played very well in the second half. Alex Tyus may win a Method Man lookalike contest, but he did not help the Gators win on the road tonight. When Tyus was dunked on midway through the second half, it was an indication of his physical presence in this game.

Chandler Parsons has been suffering a career three-point slump in the last few games. He hit a huge three-pointer with three minutes left in the game after giving up a wide-open three on the other end. Between those two shots, CP faced a heckling by coach Billy Donovan during a media timeout. Veteran Walter Hodge chipped in late with an impressive old-fashioned three-point play.

The offense played well, and they actually showed more dimensions than the usual three-ball catapulting squad. Of course, they played at a very fast tempo and scored the majority on run-outs. These run-outs and the set-plays were mostly fueled by precision Nick Calathes passes.

However, it seemed that most of the Gator turnovers (18 on the night) came from players not being able to handle these passes. But in no situation was there a bad pass from Wonderboy—simply the players surrounding Calathes need to develop better hands. 

Interestingly for ESPN viewers, this crazy finish came on a night where No. 1-ranked Wake Forest lost to unranked Virginia Tech and No. 7-ranked Michigan St. lost to Northwestern.

The schedule does not get any easier after the heartbreaking loss in Columbia, as the Gators travel to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores this Sunday at 1:30 (Jan. 25). This game will be nationally televised on CBS and will be played on the strangest basketball court in the nation.

The Commodores have lost three out their first four SEC games, one against Tennessee and the others at Mississippi St. and Kentucky. The Commodores possess one of the nation's top FG% defenses and should look to give the Gators a hard time.

Projection: Vandy 62, UF 58

Any thoughts?

You can read the original article here.