The Gator basketball team, coming off a big week, plays host to the hated Bulldogs on Wednesday. Georgia is also coming in off a big win against Tennessee. The Gators beat Arkansas on the road on a nationally televised game on ESPN last Thursday. Erving Walker had a huge night in that one.

Then the Gators had to travel after that late game back to Gainesville and play South Carolina on Saturday. Not an easy task with SC bringing the SEC’s leading scorer in Devan Downey. Downey lit the Gators up for 36 points. His final two seemed to be the winners at under five seconds. But Chandler Parson’s buzzer beater lifted the Gators to a huge win.

The Gators now stand at 3-2 in SEC play and 14-5 overall. Following Georgia is a two game road trip to Tennessee and Alabama. So this game is critical. A win for the Gators means at worst a 4-4 mark coming off the road trip before hosting Mississippi State. Hopefully UF can get a win over UGA and a split on the road. That would give them a 5-3 mark at the halfway point in the SEC schedule.

That would mean if UF can go 4-4 down the stretch it would mean a 9-7 SEC mark. That should be enough to get the Gators into the NCAA Tournament. The second half of the SEC schedule starts out with MSU at home, and also includes home games with Auburn, Vandy, and UT. There is also a non conference home game with Xavier who is leading the A-10 Conference. Road games include South Carolina (and Downey again), Georgia, Ole Miss and Kentucky.

The Gators need to be at 5-3 with that remaining schedule. Going 4-4 will not be easy the last 8 games.

Mississippi State is the defending SEC Tournament Champs. Speaking of defending, they have Jarvis Varnardo who is getting very close to breaking the all time NCAA shot blocking record. He currently is #2. Then you have Vanderbilt and Tennessee coming in. So 2-2 at home will be a good mark. Then the road games with SC, Ole Miss and UGA will be very tough, and Kentucky is an automatic loss. 2-2 on the road will be very tough.

Needless to say, this is a must win for the Gators. The games against UGA and South Carolina will most likely determine the fate of the Gators. UF narrowly escaped the first test. They really need to step it up for the next three.

By: James Folsom