At the Buzzer: Florida 88, Arkansas 73 (Instant Breakdown)
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
The Gators got a long-waited big night from KeVaughn Allen to rout the Razorbacks.
FLORIDA 88, ARKANSAS 73
WHAT HAPPENED: Junior shooting guard KeVaughn Allen awakened from his scoring slump with a season-best 28 points, including 20 during a first half when the Gators opened an 18-point lead and easily withstood a series of second-half mini-runs by the Razorbacks to win a big Southeastern Conference game Wednesday night at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. Allen's shooting hand wasn't the only hot one in the first half for the Gators. Junior swingman Jalen Hudson had 15 points to help stake UF a 48-33 lead. Yes, 35 of the Gators' 48 first-half points came from Allen and Hudson. The Razorbacks managed to cut the lead to single digits midway through the second half, but Allen answered with a 3-pointer and Florida finished things off from there. Hudson finished with 21 points (4-for-8 from 3) and one rebound shy of a double-double with nine, while grad-transfer forward Egor Koulechov added 12 points and eight rebounds. Arkansas got 28 points from guard Jaylen Barford, who was terrific in hitting 10 of his 15 shots and five of his six 3-point attempts.
WHAT IT MEANS: For UF, that's eight straight wins in its series with the Hogs (and 19 of the last 22). But more importantly, the Gators moved into sole possession of first place in the SEC standings, a half-game ahead of Auburn, which lost Wednesday night 76-71 at Alabama.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Allen, Allen and Allen. The team's scoring leader last season and 2017 first-team All-SEC guard came in averaging 7.0 points through five conference games, having along the way shown a penchant for passivity that was not there during his freshman and sophomore seasons. In this one, though, Allen was aggressive from the get-go, with the Little Rock, Ark., native perhaps looking to put on a show for his home state. He hit six of his nine field goals in the first half, including four of five from the 3-point line. He finished 8-for-12 overall, 6-for-7 from deep, and hit all six free throws. Allen pulled up in traffic. He drove. He attacked in transition. He got to the free-throw line. Simply put, he was great. He was the old KeVaughn. Welcome back.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: Florida has not lost to Arkansas at home since 1995, a run of 13 games.
UP NEXT: Florida (13-5, 5-1) is back on the SEC road Saturday to take on No. 18 Kentucky (14-4, 4-2), which figures to be seething after blowing a 14-point second-half lead on the road Tuesday night and losing 76-68 at South Carolina.
