It's a weird game when one team has 11 blocks but still allow 50 points in the paint and it was a weird night for the No. 22 Florida Gators in a 72-66 home loss to South Carolina Wednesday night. It was the Gamecocks' first road win of the season.

Florida came in hot, winners of their last four including two wins over top-25 opponents, but got bullied down low against a 4-6 South Carolina team. At one point in the game, the Gators and Gamecocks both had 28 points in the paint. The Gamecocks finished with a 50-30 advantage. South Carolina out-rebounded the Gators 43-35.

"They just hit us in the mouth," Tre Mann said after the game. "They made winning plays. They had offensive rebounds. They hit open shots. They got whatever they wanted in the second half."

Playing on his 20th birthday, Tre Mann led the Gators in scoring with 17 points but that came on an inefficient 6-of-16 shooting.

The Gators' four-game winning streak gave them their first top-25 ranking in the AP Poll since 2019. Florida, like back in 2019, responded to that ranking with a loss. There has been a tendency for Mike White's teams to not respond well to being ranked or going on a modest winning streak and Mann addressed that after the game.

"Any time we get a little success we tend to play bad and lose focus. I think that's what happened tonight," Mann said. "They punked us."

White didn't buy into that theory but he did admonish the defensive effort from his team on Wednesday night.

"Quite bluntly, we're just an average defensive team and that showed up tonight," White said after the game. "We've got to guard the bounce, 1-on-1 at a higher level and finish rebounds, defensive blockouts, and rebounds better."

Florida wasn't the best team on the floor Wednesday, which is frustrating when you're ranked 22nd in the country, hosting a team that hadn't won a road game and was just 4-6 on the seaosn.

Tre Mann led the Gators with 17 points and eight rebounds. He is the second player to lead UF in both categories in a game this season, joining Colin Castleton, who has done so twice.

Florida’s 12 blocked shots were the team’s most ever against an SEC opponent and UF’s most since blocking 12 vs. Florida A&M on Dec. 17, 2006. Overall, it was the eighth time UF has blocked 12+ shots and two off the program record of 14, set vs. Eastern Illinois Nov. 21, 2002.

Castleton accounted for seven blocks, the fourth time in his last six appearances with five-plus blocked shots.

After South Carolina started 3-for-4 from 3-point range, Florida limited the Gamecocks to 1-for-15 from beyond the arc after that.

Over the last six games, Florida is allowing opponents to shoot just .263 from 3-point range (31-for-118). Through the first nine games, UF had been defending the arc at a .378 clip.

Noah Locke shot 3-for-7 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points. It marks his fourth straight game with at least three 3-pointers and his seventh in a row with multiple treys.

The Gators hit the road to play LSU (11-5, 6-3) in Baton Rouge.