FAYETTEVILLE — Despite having its worst offensive performance in nearly a decade, Arkansas still had a chance to pull it out late Wednesday night against Florida.
The Razorbacks turned to the only weapon they had going for them, but Mason Jones’ contested shot in the paint didn’t fall and neither did Adrio Bailey’s put back attempt. A few free throws later and the Gators left Fayetteville with a 57-51 victory.
It was Arkansas’ lowest scoring total at home under head coach Mike Anderson and the lowest since also scoring 51 against Auburn on Jan. 24, 2009.
Playing an SEC game in front of their home crowd for the first time this season, the Razorbacks shot just 30 percent (15 of 50) from the floor, matching a 2003 game against Western Carolina for their worst ever at Bud Walton Arena.
“Quite frankly, we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Anderson said. “I don’t know if it was nerves or what it was, but I’ve never seen so many airballs.”
Considering how bad Arkansas was offensively, it was a miracle that it was even in the game with less than a minute to play.
Florida led for all but about seven minutes, getting as far ahead as 16 points in the second half. Even with six minutes left, the Gators still had a 15-point lead thanks to a Noah Locke three-pointer. However, they would make only one more field goal the rest of the way as Jones slowly dug the Razorbacks out of the massive hole.
It was an eerily similar situation Florida was in Saturday against South Carolina, when it blew a 14-point lead and lost at home.
“I had that pit in my stomach like I did Saturday,” Florida head coach Mike White said. “I felt like we were watching the scoreboard, hoping for an SEC road win and hoping that the clock would run out and you can’t be successful doing that.”
Sure enough, Jones made six free throws, a layup and a three-pointer to pull Arkansas within two points with just over a minute remaining. After Daniel Gafford came down with his game-high 12th rebound, Anderson called a timeout and drew up a play for his red-hot sophomore.
With less than 30 seconds on the clock, he came around a screen and drove right, but Jalen Hudson contested his shot from the paint. Even though Jones said after the game that he feels like he should have pulled up to shoot sooner, the Razorbacks still got a second chance with Bailey’s put back attempt.
When that didn’t fall, Kevarrius Hayes came up with the rebound and the Gators iced the victory with four free throws by Arkansas native KeVaughn Allen.
“It would have been nice to finish it off with a win, but that’s what happens when we start off slow and have to fight back,” Jones said. “If you try to wait that late to put your hardhat on, then sometimes you’re not going to get the results you want.”
Jones finished with a career-high 30 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4 of 9 beyond the arc. He was also excellent at the charity stripe, making 12 of 13 free throws.
The rest of the team managed just 21 points and was 8 of 37 from the floor, 2 of 17 from three-point range and 3 of 13 from the free throw line. That includes zero points from the bench, the first time the Razorbacks have done that since joining the SEC in 1991-92, according to HogStats.com.
Arkansas’ second-leading scorer was Gafford with nine points, but the preseason All-SEC selection attempted only four shots - the fewest he’s taken since the second game of the year against UC-Davis.
“I just thought maybe it was the rhythm of the game,” Anderson said. “Their pressure slowed the game down. We started off really attacking, but as the game went on, we didn’t do a good job of really attacking.”
Although he didn’t have a great shooting night, Allen had a solid homecoming for the Gators. Playing in his home state for the final time, he scored 18 points. He was just 3 of 11 from the floor and 1 of 9 from beyond the arc, doing most of his damage at the free throw line, where he was 11 of 12. In seven career games against the Razorbacks, Allen never failed to reach double figures and averaged 15.9 points.
The loss dropped the Razorbacks to 1-1 in SEC play after escaping Texas A&M with a road win. They’ll try to get back above .500 when LSU comes to town Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. and it’ll be televised on the SEC Network.
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