No. 8 Florida at Arkansas (Saturday, 4 pm)

No. 8 Florida at Arkansas

* When: Saturday, 4 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Bud Walton Arena / Fayetteville, Ark.
* Records: Florida (14-1, 1-1) / Arkansas (11-4, 0-2)
* TV: ESPN (Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
(with Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey and Steve Egan)
* Ticket info

Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Sophomore	10.9 pts / 8.0 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	5.5 pts / 7.3 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	13.4 pts / 5.0 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-2 / 195	Graduate	16.1 pts / 5.7 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	17.5 pts / 3.3 reb / 3.9 ast

Arkansas	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Adou Thiero	F	6-8 / 220	Junior	16.9 pts / 5.9 reb
Jonas Aidoo	F	6-11 / 240	Senior	5.8 pts / 4.2 reb
Karter Knox	G	6-6 / 220	Freshman	6.7 pts / 2.7 reb
DJ Wagner	G	6-4 / 195	Sophomore	10.5 pts / 3.2 reb
Boogie Fland	G	6-2 / 175	Freshman	15.5 pts / 3.6 reb / 5.7 ast

The Breakdown

SETUP: No. 8 Florida and Arkansas square off in a pivotal Southeastern Conference meeting for both teams. The Gators are coming off Tuesday night's historic 73-43 smashing of top-ranked Tennessee at Gainesville. The win marked just their third over an opponent ranked No. 1 (in 20 tries) in program history, as well as the first at home, with the 30-point margin the largest against a No. 1 since 1968. The Razorbacks, meanwhile, are one of five conference teams (along with Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and South Carolina) to start the season with two losses after falling 73-66 against 23rd-ranked Ole Miss at home Wednesday night. An 0-3 start in this league will be tough to recover from.

SERIES: UF leads 27-15, with that fat margin mostly coming during a run from 2000-20 when the Gators went 19-5. The Razorbacks won three straight during the meetings of the '21, '22 and '23 seasons, but the Gators snapped that mini-streak with a 90-68 victory at the O'Dome last Jan. 13. In that one, Florida got its first SEC win of the season after dropping the first two. Sophomore guard Riley Kugel came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points on eight of 14 shooting from the floor, a couple 3s, five rebounds and two steals over 27 minutes. Four other UF players finished in double-figure scoring, including forward Tyrese Samuel, who had his sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and point guard Zyon Pullin who had 15 points, eight assists and four boards. The Gators shot 49 percent, out-rebounded the Hogs 48-31 and defended at 38 percent.

ETC: Florida will try to break a two-game road skid at Walton Arena, one of the best venues in college basketball. The Gators are 7-10 all-time at Fayetteville.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Arkansas
87.8	Scoring	79.4
.472	Field-goal percentage	.498
344.	3-point percentage	.344
64.9	Scoring defense	66.7
.374	Field-goal percentage defense	.409
.274	3-point percentage defense	.302
5th	KenPom.com overall ranking	46th
3rd	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	59th
16th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	31st
86th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	97th
5th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	47th
69th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	128th

The Gators

Florida center Rueben Chinyelu (9) finishing strong against the Volunteers Tuesday.

After giving up 106 points, allowing 59-percent shooting and 14 3-pointers in their SEC opener at Kentucky, the Gators went back to the lab with their defense and the results were positively astounding in the vanquishing of the Vols. UF, which dropped from No. 18 nationally in defensive efficiency all the way to No. 38 post-UK, rocketed back to No. 16 after smothering UT into just 21 percent overall and 4-for-29 from deep. Offensively, Florida was tested by a Tennessee defense that came in ranked No. 1 in efficiency, but the Gators shot 37.8 percent from the floor (four points above the UT average), went 6-for-20 from the arc (30 percent was six points better than the Vols nation-leading 24.2), with the 73 points the most surrendered by the Vols this season. Florida, despite some of its lower numbers of the season, remains at No. 3 in offense, but jumped to No. 5 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings with one of the biggest victories in a generation of Gators basketball

Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin, the transfer from Florida Atlantic, scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed six rebounds and was nails on the defensive end, as usual. Perimeter mates Walter Clayton Jr. (7 points, 5 assists, 4 turnovers) and Will Richard (7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) didn't have their best offensive games, but the Gators got plenty more elsewhere to make up for a lighter night from the No. 1 and No. 3 leading scorers. Reserve guard Denzel Aberdeen (7.6 ppg) came off the bench to throw in a season-high 16 points in just 14 minutes. Aberdeen nailed two of his four 3s and is now at 39.4 on the season.

The starting front line of Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu combined for 16 points and 27 rebounds, with Condon carding his second double-double of the season (12 and 12) and Chinyelu clearing a career-best 15 boards. Those two set the tone for a plus-17 performance for the Gators on the glass (plus-7 on the offensive end). UF is the No. 4 offensive rebounding team in the country, retrieving 41.5 percent of its missed shots, while Condon and Chinyelu are two of the top 57 individual offensive rebounders in the country; Condon 47th (14.5 percent) and Chinyelu 56th (14.0 percent), while averaging just 18.5 minutes. Their physical work inside, whether scoring, screening or ducking in, helped the Gators pummel the Vols 40-14 in paint points. ... Sophomore forward Thomas Haugh (7.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg) had seven points and three rebounds off the bench against the Vols, but was active and disruptive chasing and tipping rebounds careened by teammates. He was 3-for-4 at the free-throw line is now at 83.3 percent on the season (on 42 attempts) after shooting 45.7 on 46 attempts in 36 games last season. ... Backup forward Sam Alexis (5.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg) had two points and three boards in limited minutes, logging just under 10. Alexis, the transfer from Tennessee-Chattanooga, is still finding his way against high-major comp (he went scoreless in five minutes at Kentucky), but is a big part of this season's plan and is due a breakout game.

The Razorbacks

It's not the start that John Calipari was looking for after jumping from the ultimate hoops hot bed to another program (in the SEC, no less) where basketball is a passion. In 15 years at Kentucky, Calipari won 410 games, six SEC regular-season championships and six conference tournament titles, went to two Final Fours and won the 2012 NCAA title. Along the way, he never started a league season 0-2 as the Razorbacks have done in getting drilled 76-52 at No. 1 Tennessee last Saturday and losing at home Wednesday to the Rebels. In that one, Arkansas blew a nine-point first-half lead, shot just 37 percent for the game, made only five of 23 from deep (21.7 percent) and got out-rebounded on their floor. ... The Hogs' have one really good win against Michigan on a neutral floor, but have lost every other game against KenPom top 100 teams (Baylor, Illinois, plus their two SEC defeats). Arkansas has been a pretty good defensive team, statistically, but is prone to costly lapses that the Gators, who are elite with the ball, should be able to exploit. The Hogs do rank No. 13 nationally in 2-point efficiency (59.1 percent) and are solid protecting the rim (No. 9 in block percentage), but they're poor defensive rebounders (253rd), which means UF should have opportunities to get out in transition.

The Razorbacks are a mixture of Kentucky transfers, Kentucky signees who flipped to Arkansas when "Cal" surprisingly flipped to Fayetteville, a couple other marquee transfers and one veteran Hog holdover. It starts with forward Adou Thiero, the UK transplant who was in and out of the Wildcats' rotation as a sophomore last season due to injuries on the way to averaging 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds. Now a full-time starter, he's blossomed into one of the league's best scorers and potential NBA lottery pick. Thiero is not a great 3-point shooter (24 percent this season, 29 for his career), but he's been outstanding inside the arc at 68.6 percent – his 61.1 overall field-goal percentage ranks second in the SEC – and has six games of at least 20 points. ... Guard DJ Wagner also followed Calipari. He played out of position as a point at UK, but seems more comfortable off the ball now (44.3 percent overall, 35.7 from 3), thanks to freshman playmaker Boogie Fland, the 2024 McDonald's All-American who ranks second in the SEC in assists and in assist-to-turnover ratio. Fland, though, had a tough night against the Rebels: five of 20 and 1-for-8 from the arc, but dished five assists without a turnover... Arkansas's two bigs, Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo and Kentucky transfer Zvonimir Ivisic (7.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg) have split starting duties. Both shoot over 50 percent from the floor, but the 7-2 Ivisic (aka "Z") is a 3-point threat (44.7 percent) who will draw UF's frontcourt players away frmo the basket. The two, however, combined for just two points and six rebounds over 21 minutes Wednesday, as the Hogs played mostly small.

Backup guard Johnell Davis (8.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg) was a big-play guard in big-time moments at Florida Atlantic the last two seasons, pairing in the Owls' backcourt with UF's Martin. Davis hasn't quite found his footing in Fayetteville (or niche, for that matter). After not playing in the Hogs' two games that bracketed the Christmas break, Davis did not start either SEC game, but scored 15 points in 29 minutes against the Rebels. ... Freshman guard Karter Knox was a McDonald's All American out of Tampa (Fla.) Catholic who originally signed with UK. He's playing nearly 17 minutes off the bench and shooting about 43 percent from the floor and 31 from deep. He is the younger brother of both Kevin Knox, who played at UK and was a first-round pick by the New York Knicks, and Kobe Knox, who Florida faced against South Florida in the season opener. ... Trevon Brazile (6.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg), the 6-10 forward in his third Arkansas season since transferring from Missouri, is playing just shy of 19 minutes a game and has 22 blocks on the season.

Numbers of Note

Gators guard KeVaughn Allen (5) on the attack against Arkansas in 2019, on his way to a seventh win in eight meetings against his homestate Hogs during his four UF seasons.

* 8.6 — Chinyelu's rebound average over the previous six games. He's playing at a different level than he did to start the season; more aggressive, more physical, more tactical, more bouncy.

* plus-12.9 — UF's rebounding margin, which is the second-largest in the nation behind 13th-ranked Illinois's plus-13.3.

* plus-22.3 — UF's scoring margin, which is the second-largest in the nation behind only 12th-ranked Houston's plus-22.4.

* 38 — Consecutive games for Clayton with at least one 3-pointer, now the third-longest such streak in program history. Clayton needs one against Arkansas to tie Lee Humphrey (2003-07) for second all-time at 39 and remain in the chase to catch Michael Frazier II (2012-15), who hit one in 41 straight games.

* 2019 —The last year the Gators won a road game in their series with the Hogs. Senior guard KeVaughn Allen, the Little Rock native and Ozark State tormentor, scored 18 points and hit all four of his free throws in the final 12 seconds to close out a 57-51 victory after UF blew a 15-point lead with six minutes to go. The Gators had to buck up on the defensive end, with Hogs guard Mason Jones on his way to 30 points. UF, up by one, survived a driving floater attempt by Jones for the tie, plus a missed putback by Adrio Bailey that was rebounded by Kevarrius Hayes, who shoveled the ball to Allen as he was falling out of bounds. Allen was promptly fouled and the No. 1 career free-throw shooter in UF history sank two with 12 seconds left for a four-point advantage, then two more with 2.2 seconds to ice it.

Bottom Line

The Gators' defense didn't travel to Lexington, but it was phenomenal Tuesday in Gainesville. Will it travel to Fayetteville?

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu

Gators Calendar

No. 8 Florida at Arkansas (Saturday, 4 pm)

No. 8 Florida at Arkansas

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Razorbacks

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Riley Kugel

Alijah Martin

Zyon Pullin

Will Richard

Tyrese Samuel

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No. 8 Florida at Arkansas (Saturday, 4 pm)

No. 8 Florida at Arkansas

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Razorbacks

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Riley Kugel

Alijah Martin

Zyon Pullin

Will Richard

Tyrese Samuel

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