Gators' Focus is Squarely on Talented Arkansas Squad
Saturday, February 18, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The team he coaches has won 20 games and is now playing for the Southeastern Conference standings and NCAA Tournament seeding, both of which could be enhanced greatly by a win Saturday.
That would be Florida assistant coach John Pelphrey, who will find himself returning to familiar grounds when the 14th-ranked Gators (20-6, 7-3) enter raucous Bud Walton Arena to face the Arkansas Razorbacks (17-9, 5-6), a team manned by players he either coached for the previous three seasons or recruited as part of a nationally ranked 2011 signing class before being relieved of his position last March.
The emotions he'll be dealing with are obvious – but understandably, he declined to share them.
“It's about these players,” said Pelphrey, who went 69-59 in four seasons at Arkansas, earlier this week. “It's not about me.”
And that's all he wanted to say publicly.
Behind the scenes, however, it's probably safe to say that Pelphrey has more than adequate knowledge about the players he coached and recruited as well as the current team now led by Mike Anderson, who once served as the righthand man to Razorbacks legend Nolan Richardson and is trying to take the Hogs back to the kind of “40 Minutes of Hell” that won the program a national championship in 1994 and nearly another in 1995.
The Anderson version of Arkansas is looking to improve its home-stretch standing as well -- with eyes toward an NCAA at-large berth, for sure -- but wasn't as shy when it came to talking about the pending reunion.
“It might be a little weird,” said forward Hunter Mickelson, part of that heralded freshman class that was Pelphrey's handy work. “But they're coming in here to do something and we're coming in here to send them out packing. It's going to be a little weird. We'll probably say, 'Hey, what's up?' and all that. But after that it's just going to be business.”
That's how Pelphrey, who worked alongside Donovan at UF from 1996-2002 and rejoined the staff last spring, is trying to make it; as business-like as possible.
Not personal.
But he's only human.
“I'm sure there are internally a lot of emotions there for him. I know he loves Arkansas. He loves the people there, the school and everything about it,” Donovan said Friday. “Every time there's a change like that, it's difficult. I think I said last year, he was moving in the right direction with that program and obviously recruited a very, very good class. ... But I'm sure there are going to be some emotions and feelings about going back there.”
All those thoughts and memories in Pelphrey's mind will vanish quickly once the game starts. He knows the Razorbacks' personnel and was charged with scouting this game, so he will be locked in.
The Gators better be, too.
“They're a quick team, an athletic team and they'll press pretty much the whole game,” junior forward Erik Murphy said. “And obviously they're undefeated at home.”
Yes, there is that.
The Razorbacks are a perfect 17-0 at Bud Walton, where the fans are known to get into a lather when their team is racing up and down the floor -- like it used to for Richardson. And sort like they're doing now for Anderson.
“I hope we handle the press well,” UF sophomore center Patric Young said. “Seeing them on film, they're really disruptive and they speed the game up at a different level than we're used to. It's going to be a tough challenge.”
The first 11 wins on the Hogs' home schedule came against non-BSC mid-majors such as Mississippi Valley State, Eastern Kentucky, Texas Southern and Savannah State. But since SEC play started, they've beaten Mississippi State and Vanderbilt at home, with an impressive non-conference win over Michigan sandwiched in there, too.
Florida is 3-5 on the road this season, but has won three of its last four outings away from Gainesville.
“There's no question their team feeds off being at home,” Donovan said. “They feed off turnovers. They feed off energy plays and hustle plays. They feed off runs.”
Donovan wants his players to understand -- and accept -- that those runs are going to happen.
But he also wants them to understand -- and believe -- they're going to happen for his team, too.
“You got to understand how to shut down a run, stop a run and also understand how to handle when you're on your own personal run,” he said. “Our awareness will be important.”
Far more important than any subplot involving their assistant coach.
GATORS GAMEBOX
No. 14 Florida at Arkansas
Tip-off: 7 p.m. (Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Ark.)
Records: Florida 20-6, 8-3; Alabama 17-9, 5-6
TV: ESPN2 (w/Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (w/Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) -- Click here for affiliates) / Sirius 220/XM 199
Game notes: Florida notes
Need to know: This will mark the 25th meeting between the two programs, as Arkansas did not join the Southeastern Conference until the 1991-92 season. UF leads the all-time series 14-10, but is 3-7 on the road, with all three wins coming in the Billy Donovan-era. The Gators have defeated the Razorbacks four straight since last losing in Fayetteville in 2008. ... The Hogs are 17-0 at home this season, while the Gators are 3-5 on the road. ... UF is coming off a 61-52 win at Alabama Tuesday night, while Arkansas last outing was a 77-58 blowout loss at Tennessee, a team that was coming off a 75-70 upset of the Gators in Gainesville four days earlier. ... All five UF starters are averaging in double-figures, led by junior G Kenny Boynton (17.2 ppg), freshman G Bradley Beal (14.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and senior PG Erving Walker (11.7 ppg, 4.9 apg). Walker, however, is 2-for-18 from 3-point range over his last four games and represents something of a microcosm for a UF team that has grown cold from long distance in SEC play (just 35.4 percent, now sixth in the league). ... Reserve F Will Yeguete, who missed the Alabama game and most of the Tennessee game with a concussion, could be available, if cleared medically, and would be a huge boost for the Gators with regard to depth, defense and his spot at the top of their press. ... Arkansas also uses a three-guard rotation and is led by freshman G BJ Young (14.5 ppg) and G Mardracus Wade (10.5 ppg). The Hogs rank first in SEC play in steals per game (8.9) and second at defending the 3-point line (30.2 percent). ... The game's two star freshmen, Beal and Young, played at rival high schools in St. Louis, where a bus caravan of more than 500 fans are making the trip to Fayetteville for the game.
