No. 12/16 Florida Begins SEC Road Trip at Arkansas on Sunday
Saturday, January 31, 2009 | Women's Basketball
The No. 12/16 University of Florida women's basketball team begins perhaps its toughest road trip of the entire season on Sunday, when the Gators will be playing four of their next five games away from home.
The travel adventure begins with a Sunday afternoon affair in Fayetteville, where the Gators (19-2, 5-1 SEC) play Arkansas looking to extend their modest four-game win streak and reach the 20-win plateau for the 10th time in the 35-year history of the program. Florida's next victory will mark the first time the team has tallied 20 wins since the 2005-06 squad went 21-9.
The other games during the next two-and-half weeks include road dates at Alabama, Vanderbilt and LSU, with the Feb. 8 contest against Tennessee the lone home game in the middle of the stretch.
Florida holds a 16-6 all-time lead against Arkansas, but the last 10 meetings have been a draw, with both clubs splitting the outcomes.
The Gators captured both regular-season games against the Razorbacks last year, including the 92-74 outburst in Fayetteville. Jennifer Mossor (Orlando, Fla.) tossed in a then-career-high 20 points to lead UF's offensive explosion. The Gator junior, however, will not be available for Sunday's game after suffering a season-ending knee injury on Jan. 8th.
As with most SEC schools, Arkansas (12-9, 1-5 SEC) seems to play some of its best ball at home, where the team has logged eight of its 12 wins this season. While the Razorbacks have lost their last two games inside Bud Walton Arena, the margin of victory was just nine points in both games - and both were against nationally-ranked opponents, as Arkansas fell to No. 6 Auburn, 70-61, and to No. 10 Tennessee, 76-67.
“I think this is going to be a really tough match-up. Bud Walton Arena is a really tough place to play. Although their SEC record doesn't indicate it, Arkansas is playing with a lot of confidence and is playing very, very well,” UF head coach Amanda Butler said. “They just took Vanderbilt to overtime in Nashville, which is a significant accomplishment. Their young players are giving them a lot. Their new players are having an impact and then there's Whitney Jones, who is one of the best rebounders in the SEC. There will be a lot to contend with and we're going to have to be tough, play smart and hope our shots fall.”
All-America candidate Sha Brooks (Jackson, Tenn.) has scored in double-figures in 11 consecutive games, leading UF's scoring brigade overall and in SEC games. The senior averages 14.8 points overall and 18.3 in league outings. Brooks ranks among the SEC leaders in conference games for scoring (No. 2), steals (No. 1), assists (No. 2), assist/turnover ratio (No. 5), free throw percentage (No. 4) and field goal percentage (No. 12).
It would be tough to find another post player under 6-foot that has been as consistent and as valuable as senior Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio). The 5-foot-11 forward is UF's second-leading scorer overall and in league games, averaging 12.8 and 15.5 points, respectively. Even more impressive is her accuracy and tenacity in the paint, leading UF in rebounding and field goal percentage. Dotson ranks among the SEC leaders in conference play for scoring (t-No. 4), field goal percentage (No. 1), rebounding (No. 13) and steals (t-No. 8).
Aside from what's come to be expected of Brooks and Dotson, Florida has been so much more than a two-person squad this year. Over the last two games, freshman Trumae Lucas (Greensboro, N.C.) is averaging 13.5 points in 27 minutes of action. The rookie scored a then-career-high 13 points against Ole Miss (Jan. 25) and topped it the next game with 14 points in the victory over Kentucky (Jan. 29).
Junior guard Steffi Sorensen (Jacksonville, Fla.) is averaging 9.3 points per SEC game, shooting 40 percent from the three-point arc (16-40), the second-highest percentage among league players, while emerging as UF's second-leading rebounder in SEC games with 6.2 per outing. Entering Sunday's game at Arkansas, Sorensen has hit at least one three-pointer in 16 consecutive games, the fifth longest streak in program history.
Arkansas seniors Ayana Brereton and Whitney Jones have provided the leadership on and off the court for the Razorbacks, who welcomed a top-25 recruiting class to the floor, where freshmen Ceira Ricketts and Lyndsay Harris are two of the team's top three scorers. Ricketts, a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week, is averaging a team-high 13.8 points to go along with 6.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Harris is Arkansas' third-leading scorer, contributes 9.9 points and has connected on a team-best 35 three-pointers to tie Florida for the SEC lead by relying on 6.6 treys per game. Brereton tallied 10 points with 5.8 rebounds, hitting 41.9 percent (26-62) from long range. Jones flirts with a double-double average, netting 9.7 points with 7.8 rebounds, while blocking 32 shots this season.
Florida assistant coach Susie Gardner was the Arkansas head coach for four seasons prior to her arrival in Gainesville in April of 2007. While in Fayetteville, Gardner posted a 64-54 record, including an 18-13 mark in her last year with the Razorbacks (2006-07). Gardner was 3-1 against Florida during her tenure at Arkansas, with two of those wins coming in Gainesville.
Sunday's game will be Florida's seventh SEC contest in the 14-game league schedule, as the Gators aim to close-out the first half of conference play with a 6-1 record. If Florida is to keep pace with Auburn and Vanderbilt atop the SEC standings, it will have to contend with a talented Arkansas squad that pushed the 20th-ranked Commodores to overtime on Thursday in Nashville, before falling, 72-61.
Sunday also is the first of two regular-season meetings between Florida and Arkansas. The Razorbacks will travel to Gainesville on Feb. 19th.
Florida's 19-2 record is TIED for the best 21-game record in program history. The 2000-01 Gator squad also compiled a similar record, winning the 20th game as the SIXTH victory in a seven-game winning streak that took them to 20-2 before losing again.
UF is 5-1 in the SEC for the first time since the 2000-01 season, tying for the best six-game league start in program history with the following four teams: 1993-94, 1996-97, 1997-98 and 2000-01.
At first glance, Florida's four-game SEC win streak might not seem like much, but it's actually tied for the SIXTH-longest SEC win streak in program history. Four other Gator teams won five consecutive games, while the 2000-01 squad strung together a program-record six-game SEC win streak.
Game Day Information
What: Florida (19-2, 5-1 SEC) at Arkansas (12-9, 1-5 SEC)
When: Sunday, February 1, 2009 * 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT)
Where: Fayetteville, Ark. * Bud Walton Arena (19,500)
Radio: LIVE on WRUF AM850 in Gainesville; audio simulcast on Cox Channel 96 with Steve Babik & Steve Russell
Internet Audio: LIVE thru GatorZone.com (FREE of charge)
Streaming Internet Video: none
Television: none
Post-Game Satellite Feed: coordinates TBA
-UF-
