FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Florida dug itself a ditch of a deficit on the road Tuesday night against one of the best teams in the Southeastern Conference. The resilience the Gators demonstrated in rallying from 15 points down in the second half to take the lead with more than four minutes to go was admirable. 

UF's inability to make a play — literally, not one — down the stretch made the 75-64 road loss at 24-ranked Arkansas all the more aggravating. 

Freshman guard Devonte Davis scored a game-high 18 points for the Razorbacks, including a steal and run-out, lead-retaking layup with 3:25 to go and the home team finished things off from there, rather succinctly in fact, by forcing the Gators (10-6, 6-5) to miss their last six shots, mixed with a trio of turnovers, in an ill-timed lack of composure. 

"I thought we lost a little poise to help them a bit," UF coach Mike White said. "It's a shame, too. We gave ourselves a chance there late, but just didn't execute down the stretch as we needed to." 

Florida shot just 30.3 percent in the first half — missing 15 of 16 shots, including nine straight at one point — and trailed 40-30 at the break. Less than two minutes into the second half, the Gators were down 15, with White calling a timeout to try and calm down his troops. It worked. 

UF scored nine straight points to start chipping away. The Arkansas lead hovered around 8 to10 for close to 10 minutes when a second Florida run, this one 14-4, was capped, first, by fourth-year junior guard Tyree Appleby's driving layup to make it a one-point game, 61-60, with just over five minutes to go. At the Razorbacks' end, fab freshman Moses Moody (14 points), missed the front end of a one-and-one, which the Gators answered with Appleby, who had a team-high 16 points, dropping a driving floater to push UF in front, 62-61, for the first time in the game.

The Gators chased that with a stop on defense and a chance to pad the margin. Instead, sophomore wing Scottie Lewis threw a pass that was swiped by Davis for a pick-6 layup that put the Razorbacks back in front. For good, as things turned out, thanks also to 16 points and six rebounds from Indiana grad-transfer transfer Justin Smith, as well as 14 points from Northern Kentucky grad-transfer guard Jalen Tate.

"The big key was when that thing was 61-62, we did a really good job of locking in defensively, being a little bit more disciplined," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. "Florida can really really score the basketball."

Sometimes, yes, but this time everything fell apart for the Gators from there, with two Tre Mann free throws with 1:28 remaining, that closed the lead to three, the only points the team scored the rest of the way. After that, it was just missed shots and turnovers. 
 
After the game, White was asked how much the team's dealings with a week-long COVID-19 pause — three canceled games, several days of practicing with just six to eight players — may have impacted the Gators' readiness to take on a team as hot as the Hogs (17-5, 9-4), who won their seventh straight SEC game to move into sole possession of second place in the conference standings. 

"Not going there," White said, opting not to offer an excuse, adding he thought his players went harder at practice Monday than they did the first five minutes of the game. "The pause had nothing to do with our poise."

Junior forward Colin Castleton wasn't going there, either. 

"It just came down to the little things, not our legs or how hard we were playing or how tired we were. I don't think anybody was tired," said Castleton, who tallied 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes. "It came down to the extra effort plays, the loose balls, offensive rebounds; they got a couple of those and just some easy buckets. I don't think the layoff affected us, to be honest with you."

To his point, the end of this game looked awfully similar to the end of the last one; the Feb. 3 home loss to South Carolina, which erased a six-point deficit by outscoring UF 13-1 over the final six-plus minutes. This time it was 14-2 over the final three-plus minutes. 

"There were some decisions I wish we could have back," White said. 

Appleby had a nice night scoring, but in going 6-for-14 from the floor he also was 1-for-7 from the 3-point and had seven turnovers, including a big one late. Mann, UF' scoring leader, had just nine points (five below his average), went 3-for-11 shooting and hit just one of seven 3s. Shooting guard Noah Locke hit just two of nine shots and one of five 3s. Combined, the trio went 11 of 34 and 3-for-19 from distance, with the team — the Gators were the league leader in field-goal percentage entering the game at 47.4 percent — finishing 37.7 for the game (and 4-for-21 for 19 percent from the arc). 

Lewis, the team's best defender, was limited to just 15 minutes due to foul trouble, with the Gators sorely missing his perimeter guarding when he played just six minutes in the first half. 

Yet it was the second half, the waning minutes (again), that proved Florida's downfall. 

"We let them rattle us a little bit at the end, 'cause they went on a bit of a run," Castleton said. "If we don't get stops, it affects our offense. If you're getting scored on, you get in desperation mode, turn the ball and do things out of character."

Unfortunately for the Gators, the last two games have played out basically the same in the final minutes. And that's not the character they want.