NEW YORK -- There's no need for introductions in the East Regional final. Scouting reports aren't really necessary.
Fourth-seeded Florida and seventh-seeded South Carolina, two SEC foes, will meet today at Madison Square Garden with the winner advancing to the Final Four.
This will be the third meeting between the teams this season with the home team winning both. They are two tough, defensive teams that can get out and run in transition.
"They're super physical. They pressure a lot, deny a lot of passes. They're all pretty fundamentally sound. They take a lot of charges and kind of swarm the ball when you drive," Florida's Canyon Barry said of the Gamecocks on Saturday. "We have to guard them, too. I think it could be a defensive battle and whoever can execute better has a good shot of winning."
The first game between the teams was a slugfest with South Carolina prevailing 57-53. The Gators missed all 17 of their three-point attempts and KeVaughn Allen, Florida's first-team All-SEC guard, scored 1 point.
"I learned that they're a very aggressive team," said Allen, who played at North Little Rock. "We can't let them turn us over. We just got to be patient. They're a team that likes to force you into turnovers. We just got to stay poised, stay together."
The Gators won the rematch 81-66 with Allen scoring 26 points and they held South Carolina to 39 percent shooting.
Allen struggled in the first two NCAA Tournament games, scoring a total of 11 points on 3-for-21 shooting. He broke out with a career-high 35 points in the regional semifinal.
This is South Carolina's deepest run in the NCAA Tournament while Florida has been in the Elite Eight six times since 2006, including back-to-back national championships in 2006-07.
Their paths to this regional final couldn't have been any more different. South Carolina beat third-seeded Baylor 70-50, while the Gators dispatched eighth-seeded Wisconsin 84-83 in overtime on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Chris Chiozza.
South Carolina's star is Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC player of the year and a consistent scorer who has averaged 26 points in the NCAA Tournament.
"Their defense is similar to ours," he said. "They're long, they're athletic. They deny. They play hard. One through four can guard the ball. They protect the rim.
"They're so long and they're fast. It's just tough. They make it hard for everything. They don't back down."
South Carolina Coach Frank Martin said he finds the physical reputation for both teams funny.
"We're not physical because we foul and push, we're physical because we don't get out of the way," Martin said. "Some teams get out of the way. We don't get out of the way."
Sports on 03/26/2017