The Florida Gators travel to Columbia tonight to take on Devan Downey and the Gamecocks (if it sounds like I'm relegating his teammates to backup-singer status, that's because I am). The game is at 8 ET on the SEC Network (see how to watch it in your area here), as for myself and others not appearing on that list, we'll be watching on ESPN360.

South Carolina is favored, and should be, as it took a buzzer beater by Chandler Parsons to prevent them from winning in Gainesville.

Billy Donovan has joked that his plan to stop Downey is to &Go to church and pray&.  The tiny 'Cock has averaged 26.2 points/game against Florida in his career, and is averaging over 30/game for the SEC Schedule this season.  His effort has brought up the name Pete Maravich, and you can see here what Maravich did to UF.

Reports are that Downey injured his ankle earlier this week in practice- but make no mistake, he'll play tonight, and be a dangerous opponent.  Especially when in Carolina they are referring to this game as 'must win'.

While they are the underdog, this could be a huge win for the Gators tonight.  Not only would it further help their NCAA resume, but it'd put them at 3rd in the SEC East.  This would also have bubble implications, but has an even more immediate consequence: right now, the 3rd place SEC East team is looking at a first round SEC Tournament matchup with Alabama or Auburn, while the 4th place East team gets whoever finishes third out of Arkansas and the Mississippi schools.  Also, the East team that finishes 3rd gets to make a deeper SEC Tournament run before facing prohibitive favorite Kentucky.  A deeper conference tournament run can only improve that resume even more.

Florida will likely be on the bubble all season long, and a win tonight could provide multiple benefits toward an NCAA invite.