Thumbs Up! Egbunu Lends Big Hand in Defeat of Hogs

Thursday, March 10

Nashville, TN

1:00 PM

Florida Gators

Arkansas

Kasey Hill (0) hit six of his 10 field-goal tries on the way to 18 points, two of his career high. That's center John Egbunu (right), with his injured thumb wrapped.

Thumbs Up! Egbunu Lends Big Hand in Defeat of Hogs

Thursday, March 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- John Egbunu left practice Tuesday night after tearing ligaments in the thumb on his right hand. Florida coach Mike White knew his starting center was dejected, having seen significant growth the past couple weeks with some of the best basketball of the sophomore's young career, only to suddenly be hit with misfortune.

So White called Egbunu with a pep talk that night. Told him to keep his head up, spoke of how much better the big guy had gotten; mentioned the need for him to find a way to help his teammates and promised the coaches and trainers wouldn't rule out trying to get him a few minutes in the upcoming Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Egbunu took the conversation in a different direction.

"No, Coach," he said. "I'm playing. I'll find a way."

And he did.

Egbunu wasn't the brightest star of No. 8-seed Florida's 68-61 defeat of ninth-seeded Arkansas in Thursday's second-round play of the SEC Tournament. He was just a big and tough piece of a win the Gators had to have, hopping off the bench for eight points and nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end, in 24 inspiring minutes.

"Unbelievable," White said after tasting victory in his SEC tourney baptism as a head coach. "I'm not shocked, but I'm really surprised he played that well."

He had help.

Junior guard Kasey Hill came off the bench to score a season-best 18 points, just two shy of his career-high, including a timely reverse layup in traffic with 52.5 seconds left after Arkansas had shaved an 11-point second-half lead to just one behind a fabulous 33-point outburst from guard Dusty Hannahs. In the waning moments, protecting its three-point lead, the UF defense forced guard Anton Beard into a wild drive with the shot clock ticking down that ended with senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith drawing an offensive foul.

On the inbound, the Hogs fouled Finney-Smith (13 points, 9 rebounds), who knocked down two free throws with 26.8 seconds to play. Another defensive stop, turned into a run-out dunk by sophomore forward Devin Robinson with just 13 seconds left and the Gators left the court with their NCAA Tournament hopes still with a pulse.

Florida (19-13), now with two straight wins for the first time in more than a month, will play top-seeded Texas A&M (24-7), which shared the league's regular-season crown with the Kentucky, in the tournament quarterfinals Friday at 1 p.m. An upset win over the 20th-ranked Aggies would be a nice add-on line to the resume that eventually will go before the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

"You can't do something special in a tournament like this, obviously, unless you win the first one," White said. "We took care of business."

But first that tried and true blueprint for success that White has referenced over and over this season was on display. The Florida offense, as its wont to do, was late to arrive at Bridgestone Arena, missing nine of its first 10 field-goal attempts. Good thing for the Gators their defensive alter ego showed up on time.

The two teams had just eight points combined though the first seven minutes and were each 3-for-12 from the floor at the second media timeout.

As poorly as the Gators were shooting, though, the Razorbacks weren't scoring either.

"We don't have a huge margin for error," said White, whose team limited Arkansas to just 36 percent shooting for the game and 16.7 from the 3-point line on the day. "We've got to be really, really good defensively."

Sound familiar?

UF center John Egbunu, favoring that braced right hand protecting his injured thumb, goes high to try and swat a shot by Arkansas guard Anton Beard.

The score was just 13-10 with less than eight minutes left in the half when Robinson (8 points, 7 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer that kicked in a red-hot run for the Gators from the arc. Over the next 13 minutes, bridging both halves, UF bombed seven 3s in nine attempts in opening an 11-point lead. At one point, Florida hit 10 of 16 shots, with the last five 3-pointers.

Florida was up 45-36 inside 15 minutes remaining when Arkansas (16-16), behind Hannahs, started chipping away. The Gators scattered their defense across the arc and weren't about to let Hannahs and the Hogs beat them from deep. Instead, Hannahs found creases for drives and floaters on his way to hitting 12 of his 23 shots, scoring more than half his team's points, but managing just 2-for-8 shots from 3.

'I'd rather have zero points and us moving on to play A&M," Hannahs said.

The Hogs made it close. The Gators, once again, bounced too many free throws (18 of 30 from the line) and helped Arkansas chop the margin. UF maintained its effort level defensively, with Egbunu a couple times showing utter disregard for his wounded hand, even sprawling to the court for some loose balls.

"Throughout the game the pain was mild," said Egbunu, who played with his hand in a cumbersome brace. "Apart from a few times when I dove on the floor and kind of hit it pretty bad ... the pain was pretty mild. It was bearable."

For White and the Gators, the game bordered on unbearable late. Twice the Hogs cut the lead to three -- and then to just one with 1:09 remaining on a run-out layup from Hannahs.

That's when Hill came to the rescue, knifing through the Arkansas halfcourt defense and going up-and-under -- using the rim to shade off 6-10 center Moses Kingsley (10 points, 14 rebounds) -- for his reverse layup that took the lead back to three.

"I was just trying to play, play aggressive, and do whatever I had to do to help the team," Hill said.

From there, the Gators finished. Egbunu had a big hand in it.

If only the one.