Pregame Stuff: Arkansas at Florida (Wednesday, 7 pm)
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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A nuts and bolts look at UF's next SEC game.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
ARKANSAS at FLORIDA
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. (EST) Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla. Records: Florida (12-5, 4-1), Arkansas (12-5, Opponent 2-3) TV: ESPN2 Network (Beth Mowins and Jon Sundvold) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)
STAKES (The Setup)
The Gators are back home Wednesday night with the Rowdy Reptiles at the O'Dome.
After starting the Southeastern Conference season unbeaten through four games, Florida was saddled with its first loss in league play Saturday, falling 78-72 at Ole Miss. With the defeat, the Gators fell into a second-place tie with Kentucky in the SEC standings, a half-game behind still-unbeaten Auburn. The Razorbacks dropped three of their first four league games, but held serve at home over the weekend by rallying from six down in the final six minutes to beat Missouri 65-63. The Hogs are one of eight teams jumbled in the SEC pack at either 3-2, 2-2 or 2-3. ... UF leads the all-time series 22-11, an advantage that includes seven straight wins, 12 of the last 13, and an 18-3 advantage since 2003. ... Gators coach Mike White is 4-0 against Arkansas, with one win coming in the 2016 SEC Tournament. ... The Gators swept the Razorbacks last season, opening the league slate with an 81-72 win in Fayetteville. Two months later, they won 78-65 in the home finale. In that one, UF jumped to a 13-point halftime lead and coasted behind 14 points from forward Canyon Barry, point guard Kasey Hill's 12 points and four assists, plus eight points and seven rebounds from forward Devin Robinson.
Guard Jaylen Barford, out of Jackson, Tenn., was a first-team junior college All-American at Motlow State (Tenn.) Community College, where he was arguably the most sought-after JuCo player in the country two years ago. As a sophomore there, he led the nation in scoring at 26.7 points per game, seven times hitting at least 30 points, including a career-high 45 in the state JuCo tournament. Barford made an instant Division-I impact last season with the Hogs, averaging 12.8 points per game and finishing third on the team in scoring. As a senior, his scoring is up to 18.4 a game (third in the SEC) on nearly 50 percent from the floor and 41.7 from 3-point range, plus 4.2 rebounds. He is aggressive, with 49 more shots than the next most-prolific shooter on his team, and a strong, hard-driver who can finish in traffic. He'll definitely be a challenge for Florida's perimeters players, though not the only one for the high-scoring Hogs.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Keith StoneABOUT THE GATORS: Though coming off the first SEC loss of the season, they've still won six of the previous seven. UF tops the league in turnover margin (plus-4.9) and 3-pointers per game (tied with Mizzou at 9.6), rank second in steals (7.6 pg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (plus-1.4), and sit third in scoring offense (81.6 ppg), free-throw percentage (.764) and 3-point shooting percentage (.390). ... With a win, Florida can match its 5-1 start in SEC play from a year ago. ... The Gators figure to be undermanned in the front court, with backup center Gorjok Gak (questionable) still in concussion protocol after taking a hit to the head at Ole Miss. ... Forward Keith Stone averaged 5.8 points and 3.0 rebounds through the team's 12 non-conference games. In league play, Stone is scoring 14 points, shooting 47.4 from deep and grabbing 6.6 rebounds, after tallying career highs of 23 points, eight points and 35 minutes at Mississippi. He needs to sharpen his decision-making and cut back on a team-high 13 turnovers (2.6 pg) in conference competition. ... Kevarrius Hayes was playing his best basketball of the season before a really tough outing at Oxford, where he was in foul trouble early, on the floor a season-low 15 minutes and finished with just four points and one rebound. ... Look for point guard Chris Chiozza to rebound from a game that was below his standard, especially on defense. Offensively, he was just 3-for-10 shooting, 1-for-5 from 3, with four assists and two turnovers. ... Forward Egor Koulechov tops the team at 18.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in SEC play after his third double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) of the season at Ole Miss. ... Guard and overall leading scorer Jalen Hudson (16.2 ppg) was limited to just 19 minutes by foul trouble last game, but did hit four of his seven shots on the way to 11 points. ... The scoring slump for shooting guard KeVaughn Allencontinues to grow. Allenhas averaged 4.5 points the last four games, and 6.7 over the previous six. ... ABOUT THE RAZORBACKS: It's the seventh season under Coach Mike Anderson, who was beloved for his loyal years as the top lieutenant to icon Nolan Richardson before branching out to Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri, then returning to the Hogs in 2011. Anderson's record at Arkansas is 140-79, with two NCAA Tournament berths, both coming the previous three seasons (2015, '17). ... The Razorbacks have played a schedule that ranks in the nation's top 10 and includes a
Daryl Macon
shining-star win over Oklahoma, currently No. 4 in the Associated Press poll, at the PK80 Invitational, where they also lost to North Carolina by nine and beat Connecticut by 35. Under Anderson, the Hogs have been notoriously bad on the road and, true to form, are 0-3 in true road games this season; a 25-point loss at Houston (their only non-conference road date), as well as closer setbacks at Mississippi State (by 3) and Auburn (by 11). Their previous two games were at home, where the Razorbacks came out flat and were completely flattened by LSU, 75-54, but followed that up with a nice win over Missouri. ... Arkansas ranks second in the league in scoring (85.1 ppg) and field-goal percentage (.494), as well as fourth in 3-point shooting percentage (.385). The team leads the SEC in assist/turnover ratio (plus-1.5) and sits second (to UF) in turnover margin (plus-3.8). The Hogs rate last in scoring defense (tied with Ole Miss at 74.9 ppg) and next-to-last in rebounding (35.4) and rebounding margin (minus-0.1). ... Guard Daryl Macon, like Barford, was a first-team JuCo All-American before coming to Arkansas, where he has flourished as a scorer. He's converting nearly 46 percent overall, 43 from deep (with a team-best 43 makes), plus 83.1 on the free-throw line. If Macon gets in rhythm, he can fill it up. The guy nearly matched Oklahoma's incomparable Trae Young point for point in their early meeting (Young had 28, Macon 27 and the win). He also leads the team in assists and steals with 69 and 22, respectively. ... The Hogs' size comes with rookie 6-11 forward Daniel Gafford, one of the SEC's best freshman to date (64.5 percent shooting, 2.0 blocked shots per game). ... Guard Anton Beard was a teammate of Allen's during their time together at North Little Rock (Ark.) High School.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Arkansas hasn't beaten UF at home since the days of Corliss Williamson.* .290 — Anderson's record in true road games during his seven seasons at Arkansas, based on a 20-49 record. The first two seasons, the Hogs were a combined 2-22 on the road.
* 2 — Steals needed by Chiozza to move into UF's all-time Top 10 in that category. He currently has 161. Two more will pull Chiozza even with Kenyan Weaks (1996-200) at No. 10. Seven more will shoot Chiozza past Justin Hamilton (1999-2003), Andrew Moten (1983-87) and Scottie Wilbekin (2011-14), and all the way to No. 7.
* 4 —Stone's current run of consecutive double-figure scoring games. His previous best such streak was two games, and he did it once early last season.
* 5 — Current stretch of SEC opponents the Gators will face just once this season, a run that ends against the Hogs. After Wednesday, UF's next four league opponents (at Kentucky, South Carolina, at Georgia and Alabama) will be home-and-homes.
* 1995 — The last year Arkansas defeated Florida in Gainesville. The date was Feb. 28, as the defending NCAA champion Razorbacks got big games from forward Corliss Williamson (20 points, 8 rebounds) and guard Clint McDaniel (17 points) on their run to a second straight spot in the national-title game, where they ultimately lost to UCLA. Guard Dan Cross had 29 that day for UF.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
With the SEC so deep and so tight, defending the home court, obviously, is paramount. UF has not been great at home this season (far from it, actually), but that can certainly change and now seems like as a good a time as any to muster up some O'Dome mojo.
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