GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the fourth time through its first five conference games the University of Florida women's basketball team will take on an AP Top 25 opponent, as the Gators travel to No. 17 Arkansas Thursday for a matchup with the Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena.
Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
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When the teams tip Thursday, Florida will become the only SEC team to take on four AP Top 25 opponents in its first five league bouts. A season ago Florida battled 10 AP Top 25 foes, its most in a regular season since the 2001-02 campaign.
UF last took the court Sunday when it fell in a contested matchup at UGA, 68-58. Florida got off to a strong start and led 20-16 after the first quarter but could not slow down the Lady Bulldogs in the end who improved to 10-1 on the season. UF employed a 9-0 run late in the fourth to draw the score back to within eight at 66-58 after trailing by as many as 17 but the offensive flurry and rally came too late.
Lavender Briggs led the way with 16 points.
In her first four conference games, all against top flight opponents, Briggs continues to show why she's one of the league's most talented scorers, averaging 20.0 points per game in those bouts. Briggs ranks No. 6 in the SEC in scoring.
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| OPPONENT |
PTS |
REBSÂ |
MINS |
| at No. 5 South Carolina |
23 |
6 |
38 |
| No. 9 Texas A&M |
19 |
8 |
39 |
| No. 14 Mississipppi St. |
22 |
6 |
37 |
| at RV Georgia |
16 |
5 |
35 |
Putting together her best all-around performance so far in SEC play, senior guard Kiki Smith chipped in with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists against the Lady Bulldogs. After averaging 7.1 points as a redshirt-sophomore and 11.9 as a redshirt-junior, Smith has upped her production to 15 points per contest to go with a team-best 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals.
Nina Rickards is a player who impacts all facets of the game for Florida. While Briggs and Smith tend to receive most of the attention, Rickards is an under-the-radar performer as she leads the team in three-point percentage (42.9) and rebounds (7.6) and has collected five double-figure scoring games. In addition, the sophomore from New York is a physical defensive presence.
The last meeting between the Gators and Razorbacks was a memorable one as then junior Kiki Smith tallied a then career-high 26 points helping Florida post a wire-to-wire 83-80 win over the No. 22 Hogs at the O'Dome. The Gators never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 14 but the Razorbacks rallied back late. Arkansas' Chelsea Dungee hoisted a last second heave from just inside halfcourt but it would ricochet off the rim as time expired.
Florida holds a 29-11 edge in the series and has won six of the last eight meetings between the squads. Under
Cam Newbauer, Florida is 2-2 against the Razorbacks which includes a win at Bud Walton Arena in 2018.
The No.17 Razorbacks, one of six SEC teams currently cracking the AP Top 25, enter the contest 10-4 overall which includes a 1-3 mark in the conference play. Arkansas, much like Florida, has endured a grueling start to SEC action having already played nationally ranked Kentucky and Texas A&M along with taking on a tough Tennessee team on the road. The program's calling card, its high-octane offense, continues to hum along in 2020-21 as the Hogs lead the SEC with an 86.6 points per game average. The Razorbacks take a lot of three-pointers and make a lot of three-pointers, averaging 10.1 connections per game at a .371 clip. Redshirt-senior and All-SEC performer, Dungee, paces the Arkansas attack with a 20.5 points per game average. Destiny Slocum, one of the nation's most coveted transfers, averages 15.4 points while shooting 37 percent from distance. Makayla Daniels and Amber Ramirez also score in double figures. Mike Neighbors, the former Washington head coach and Arkansas alum, is in his fourth season with the program. Neighbors has over 150 victories over his eight-plus year career as a head coach.
Thursday's matchup features one of the league's best three-point shooting teams in Arkansas (.371) and one of the league's best in terms of defending the arc in Florida (.240).
Notables
- Florida's .725 winning percentage against Arkansas is its best against any SEC program. The series began back in Gainesville in January of 1992.
- In their last two games, the Gators' defense has kept them in the game. Florida held nationally-ranked Mississippi State to 15 points fewer than its scoring average coming in (83 to 68) and against Georgia it held the Lady Bulldogs to 10 points fewer (78 to 68).
- Thursday marks UF's second-straight road game. Florida won't play consecutive road games following this stretch until late February when it travels to Missouri and South Carolina.
- Florida featured four double figures for just the third time this season in its most recent matchup at Georgia. (Briggs 16, Smith 13, Moore 11, Rickards 10)
- After just 12 points combined through her first three conference games, Kristina Moore chipped in with 11 points on the road at UGA. In two games against the Razorbacks last season, Moore averaged 8.5 rebounds per game.
- Briggs averaged 18.5 points per game in two matchups vs. Arkansas last season.
- Rickards is one of just two players in the SEC leading her team rebounds, three-pointers made and three-point percentage.Â
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