WHO: No. 22 Florida vs South Carolina

WHERE: Stephen C. O'Connell Center

WHEN: Wednesday, February 3. 2021

TV: SEC Network

The Florida Gators are ranked in the Associated Press for the first time since November 25, 2019. The ranking comes on the heels of a four-game winning streak, including two wins over ranked opponents.

The Gators are hitting their stride six weeks after SEC Preseason Player or the ear Keyontae Johnson's collapse in Tallahassee. Mike White and had to completely re-tool the offense but the team is buying in and playing its best basketball of the season.

This is the only matchup between South Carolina and Florida this season. The road team has won the last four meetings between these two teams.

4: Florida’s four road wins vs. ranked opponents under Mike White mark the most by any SEC team over the course on White’s tenure (2015-present). The Gators’ 11 wins in neutral or road games during that time are the SEC’s second-most (UK 14, UT 8, SC 7).

194: With four 3-pointers last game, Noah Locke’s 194 career treys move him to No. 10 in Florida history, passing Matt Walsh’s 192. He is four behind Kenyan Weaks at #9 and six shy of becoming the eighth Gator to reach 200 career 3-pointers

5: The Gators are looking for their first five-game winning streak since Feb. 13-27, 2019.

Mike White on Colin Castleton:

"Colin’s readiness, Colin’s confidence level, Colin’s skill level, overall improvement with our guys’ passing ability, of course. Then the depth of the front court. Jason Jitoboh, you can throw him out there at times and he’s getting better in practice and playing his way into better shape. Osayi Osifo who we talked about. Colin was ready. It’s a great story of itself, the fact that he didn’t get a lot of opportunity at Michigan and he comes down here and he’s playing really well. But he can’t rest on his laurels either. He has a long ways to go. He’s getting accolades, but I’d like to think that he feels better about winning than any individual headline. That should be the case if he’s going to be the best player he can be. But yeah, new style of play, he’s getting touches. In the offseason, I’d be lying if I said, you know I really anticipate pounding that thing into Colin Castleton January and February. Heck, we didn’t know if he’d earn minutes in the rotation at that time. We knew he was really talented and skilled offensively at that time. But now, as you readjust, I don’t know we have a No. 1 guy you want to play through."

The Gators rank #1 in the SEC in field goal percentage (.479) and 3-point field goal percentage (.383) and #3 in blocked shots (5.9) and free throw percentage (.746). Castleton ranks #2 in the SEC in field goal percentage (.639) and blocked shots (2.3).