Image Credit: UAA Communications
It was only a few days ago when Florida Gators basketball suffered one of its most embarrassing losses in quite some time, blowing a 14-point second-half lead to fall with a buzzer-beating slam dunk at home to South Carolina. On Wednesday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, it looked like Florida was on the verge of an identical finish until the Gators (9-5, 1-1 SEC) somehow pulled out a nail-biter of a 57-51 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks (10-4, 1-1 SEC).
Let’s take a look at what went down in Florida’s latest win.
It was over when … senior guard
It was a horrid game on Wednesday with the teams starting a combined 0-for-22 from downtown and at one point missing 15 straight field goals. Both teams shot around 30 percent for the game and struggled to find the bottom of the basket.
Exceptional efforts: Allen, who led Florida with 18 points, was just as bad as the rest of the team from the floor. He went 3-for-11 from the field and 1-for-9 from three with nearly all of his point scoring coming on 11-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe. Freshman G Noah Locke was the only other player to shoot with any consistency, hitting 2-of-5 triples for 10 points.
Odds and ends: Redshirt senior G Jalen Hudson earned his first start since November after head coach Mike White said he had the two best practices of his career; he still went 4-for-15 from the field, though he did hit a clutch basket late … the teams combined for seven second-chance points and four fastbreak points … UF only got 10 points off the bench, while UA’s bench went 0-for-10 from the field and 0-for-4 from the line … each team went 6-for-26 from three and scored 18 points in the paint … Florida led for 32:48 of the 40-minute game
What it means: Nothing. One could hang their hat on the Gators not suffering the same fate they did a few days ago at home, but that’s hardly worth celebrating. Florida’s defense is legitimate, but its offense is abhorrent as the Gators actually posted their worst-shooting game of the season yet still won. Any team that can score with consistency should be able to beat UF unless it has a substantially better shooting performance, and even then, it will be difficult for this team to beat more talented programs.
Up next: After two excruciating performances, Florida gets to host No. 3 Tennessee (12-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in a game that will air live nationally on ESPN.
#Gators go on the road & get a W behind 18 from KeVaughn Allen. In case you missed it, see all the highlights…#GatorsHoop pic.twitter.com/UNKYARs3h3
— Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 10, 2019