Monday, February 15, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA at ARKANSAS
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. (EST) Where: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Ark. Records: Florida (10-5, 6-4); Arkansas (16-5, 8-4) TV: ESPN2 (Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)
THE BASICS
A birds-eye view of the University of Arkansas campus at Fayetteville.
Big Southeastern Conference game between two teams dealing with completely different situations. One has been mostly dormant for close to two weeks, while the other is as hot as any team in the league. ... Florida was in a COVID-19 pause that forced the postponement of three games (road dates at LSU and Tennessee, plus a home game Saturday against Texas A&M). That means UF's last outing was the disappointing 72-66 home loss to South Carolina, a defeat that came two days after the Gators, fresh off upsetting No. 11 West Virginia for a fourth straight win, moved into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since December 2019. The Gamecocks then came to town in 12th place in the league standings and coming off a loss at Vanderbilt. They beat the Gators by holding UF without a basket for the final 6:31, as the Gators missed their last eight field-goal attempts. That's a tough one to have to stew on for 13 days. ... Arkansas, meanwhile, has won six straight SEC games, with its most recent outings a pair of back-to-back road wins at Kentucky (the team's first over the Wildcats since 2014) and No. 10 Missouri. The Razorbacks hung on to defeat the UK 81-80, then went to Columbia and beat the Tigers 86-81 in overtime. Arkansas started the league season 2-4, but its only blemish since is a road loss at Oklahoma State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. ... Florida leads the all-time series 26-12, including three straight wins and 11 over the previous 12. The Gators defeated the Razorbacks 73-59 last Feb. 18 in Gainesville behind a double-double from sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson (24 points, 10 rebounds), who went 15-for-17 from the free-throw line. Sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhardpitched in 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, as UF shot 50 percent for the game, including 63 percent after halftime. … UF is 8-1 against Arkansas under Coach Mike White, including 2-0 on the road.
Guard Moses Moody was a consensus top-40 prospect and the program's highest-rated recruit since top-20, McDonald's All American hot shot forward Bobby Portis arrived in Fayetteville in 2013. Moody was a home-grown kid who played at the same high school, North Little Rock, that produced former UF star Kevaughn Allen and led that team to the 2018 Class 7A state crown as a sophomore. He transferred to Montverde (Fla.) Academy for his junior and senior season (playing alongside UF's Omar Payne one season) and last year was part of a team that went 25-0 and claimed the mythical national title. Moody has justified his hype and accolades as a rookie and would be running away with SEC Freshman of the Year were it not for LSU's Cameron Thomas. Moody has started all 21 games and leads the team in minutes (32.3 per game), scoring (16.3), 3s and free throws made (37 and 83, respectively) and total rebounds (119). He's making 45 percent overall and nearly 38 from the 3-point line. He also leads the team in free-throw shooting at 82.2 percent. The kid does work on the glass as well (5.7), with 37 percent of his rebounds on the offensive end.
TEAM BREAKDOWNS
UF sophomore guard Tre Mann (center) is leading the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game.
ABOUT THE GATORS: Not that they needed one, but the last time out the Gators got a reminder of how fragile prosperity can be in college basketball. UF wasn't the only ranked team that week to lose to a on-paper inferior opponent (nine ranked teams lost to unranked teams), but that game is over. In a perfect world, the Gators would have gone back to work, refocused and rolled out the kind of effort that helped them to wins over No. 6 Tennessee, at Georgia, against Vanderbilt and at No. 11 West Virginia before being out-played and out-hustled by the Gamecocks. The COVID world, however, is far from perfect. Instead, the Gators did very little a team for a week due to COVID cases and contact tracing, and finally had enough players Friday to do some 4-on-4 and Saturday to do some 5-on-5, and did not have their full roster available to practice until Monday. Even upon resuming workouts, two starters were in non-contact work only. A trip to Bud Walton could be a tough way to try and kick off the rust. ...
Omar Payne
UF is scoring 77.5 points per game, still leading the SEC in field-goal percentage at 47.4, and is at 37.5 from the 3-point line. The Gators give up 71.1 points and allow opponents to make 42.5 percent overall and 33.1 from deep. KenPom.com's advance metrics place UF at No. 28 overall, 20th in offensive efficiency, 50th in defense and 110th in tempo. ... Forward Colin Castleton went into the South Carolina game shooting 64 percent on the season, but hit just four of his 12 shots. He still tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and seven blocked shots, but he needs to get used to the posts "firings" and double teams that came at him in waves, courtesy of the Gamecocks. Castleton's first full practice since the pause was Monday. ... Guard and scoring leader Tre Mann had 16 points and a team-high eight boards last game, but he is too talented an offensive player (and the Gators' are too good on offense) to be part of that late-game meltdown experienced against USC when they missed nine of their last 10 shots. Mann missed two field goals and a front end of a one-and-one in that span. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke is at 15.2 points over the previous five games and has at least three 3s in the last four games. ... Guard Tyree Appleby, who hails from Jacksonville, Ark., got too loose with the ball (two "pick-6" turnovers) and took a couple ill-advised shots during the USC comeback from six down with just over six minutes left. He's a talented offensive player and is UF's best passer, but sometimes needs to reel himself in. That had not been the case so much during UF's four-game winning streak. Appleby had a streak of five straight games in double-figure scoring halted last time out with just six points. ... Forward Omar Payne is coming off a 5-for-5 effort from the floor, with four rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes. ... Backup guard Scottie Lewisplayed just 14 minutes and missed all four of his field-goal attempts against South Carolina. His two quick fouls in the first half put him on the bench and he never got into any kind of a rhythm. The Gators could have used Lewis at his best, especially on defense, when they surrendered those rapid-fire points late. ... Backup forwardAnthony Duruji had six points and two rebounds in 13 minutes against the Gamecocks. The UF coaches want to see more consistent energy from arguably their top all-around athlete. ... Backup forward Osayi Osifo (2.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg) is still dealing with a sore ankle that kept him out of the USC game and has been unable to do much of anything in practice. UF missed his energy, defense and bounce on the glass against the Gamecocks after going 9-for-9 from the floor with 18 rebounds off the bench the previous four games.
ABOUT THE RAZORBACKS: They're 36-21 in the second season under Coach Eric Musselman, who averaged 27.5 victories and went to three NCAA tournaments in the four seasons prior at Nevada (2015-19). Included in that postseason resume, of course, was a 70-61 upset loss to Florida in first-round play in '19 at Des Moines,
Connor Vanover (23)
Iowa. Musselman was hired at Arkansas two weeks later. The Razorbacks finished 10th in the SEC in Musselman's first season, going 20-12 overall and 7-11 in league play, but have flipped the switch this season and done so with his model of loading up on transfers, with seven on the current roster (he had nine on his last Nevada team). … Arkansas enters the game ranked 25th overall by KenPom, with the No. 34 offense, No. 26 and the No. 26 pace. That's balance. The Hogs average 82.8 points per game, shoots 45.1 percent from the floor and 34.1 from 3. … Forward Justin Smith is a grad-transfer from Indiana. As a Hoosier, he averaged 10.2 points and was second on team at 5.2 rebounds per game. As a Hog, he's made his presence felt inside (49.1 percent) and is not much of a threat to drift too far from the basket (just 4-for-19 from the arc). Of his 110 rebounds, nearly half (51) have been on the offensive end. … It's not often that Castleton has to look up to a guy in the post, but that will happen against Connor Vanover, who at 7-3 is the tallest player in Arkansas program history. The transfer from California makes an impact when he's in the game — though only 18.6 minutes per — by utilizing his length on both ends (42 blocks), as well as an amazing touch for a big. He's made 31 3s (at 33 percent) and, get this, all 17 of his free-throw attempts. … If the name JD Notae sounds familiar, it should. The Gators faced the redshirt-junior guard two times during his time at Jacksonville U, where he was a second-team All-Atlantic Sun selection and led the team with 15.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Notae has blossomed into a SEC Sixth Man of the Year candidate. He has started just one game, but ranks second on the team in scoring at 13.0 points per game to go with three rebounds and nearly two assists. His shooting percentages aren't great (just shy of 38 overall and 34 from deep), but he ranks third on the team in field-goal attempts. Notae is not bashful. He also is aggressive, with his 83 free-throw attempts second on the team to Moody. He has made almost 79 percent from the line. … Jalen Tate came to the Ozark State by way of Northern Kentucky and his offensive efficiency has been really, really good. Despite playing mostly on the ball, he leads the team in field-goal percentage at 50.6 percent and also has made better than 37 percent of his long ones. … Desi Sills is the Hogs' fifth player averaging in double figures and one of six players with at least 19 made 3s this season.
NUMBERS WORTH NOTING
UF junior shooting guard Noah Locke is closing in on a 3-point career milestone, needing just three to reach 200 for his career.
* minus-1 — Temperature in Fayetteville Monday morning, with a blizzard expected to come through town later in the day.
* .828 — Florida's winning percentage against Arkansas in the 2000s, based on a 24-5 record, including 7-4 in Fayetteville.
* 3 — 3-pointers needed by Locke to become just the 10th player in UF history to reach 200 for his career.
* 8 — Wins for White against Arkansas, which is tied for the most (with Georgia) for the UF coach against any other SEC opponent.
* 2013 — UF's last road loss in the series. The Gators came to town ranked No. 2 in the country and riding a 10-game win streak. Eleven minutes in, they trailed by 23, as the Hogs splashed seven of their first eight 3-point shots and went on to win 80-69. It was Arkansas's first win over a team ranked as high as No. 2 in 14 years.
LAST WORD
Arkansas has played two bare-knuckle brawl games and won both during the time Florida has played none. We'll see just what that means.
