Defensive issues plagued the Arkansas Razorbacks (9-7, 0-3 SEC) as they suffered a 90-68 loss to the Florida Gators (11-5, 1-2 SEC) in front of a sold-out crowd at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday.
Arkansas’ only lead of the day was a 4-2 margin in the opening minutes of the game, but Florida quickly blew the game open and built a double-digit lead by the 12:00 minute mark in the first half.
The Gators had their way down low, as they out-rebounded the Hogs 48-31 and scored 38 points in the paint. All three of Florida’s frontcourt players that saw action in the game had nine or more rebounds. The Razorbacks’ effort levels on the glass were subpar, as Florida grabbed a whopping 15 offensive boards and scored 17 second-chance points.
“We’re getting beat on the glass in a lot of our games,” freshman guard Layden Blocker said after the game. “Florida, that’s the number one offensive rebounding team in the country…one of the biggest teams…I feel like rebounding was our biggest downfall this game…just playing hard, also.”
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Head coach Eric Musselman also pointed to the Razorbacks’ performance on the glass as a key factor in the loss.
“The theme of the games was rebounding,” Musselman said. “We knew that they were going to be extremely physical and we were not able at all to withstand the physicality in the interior.”
Arkansas’ struggles with transition defense continued against Florida too, as the Gators ran the floor and got easy looks on fast breaks throughout the game.
After the Razorbacks showed an inability to stay in front of Florida’s guards in a man-to-man setup, Musselman made the switch to a zone defense midway through the first half.
Musselman has been a stalwart proponent of man defense throughout his career, so this was a last-resort change by the Head Hog amid a string of poor performances.
“I haven’t played zone at all since I’ve been in college, but we’re not guarding anybody one-on-one,” Musselman said. “So the thought process was to put zone in yesterday to try and help us with dribble-drives. It helped for a little bit as a change of pace…maybe slowed Florida down for a little bit.”
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Florida made nine three pointers and shot an efficient 36% from behind the arc. Five Gators reached double figures, led by sixth man Riley Kugel’s 20 points on 8-14 shooting.
“You’ve got to be able to guard either the guy in your area or the guy you’re assigned to,” Musselman said. “We gave up nine threes the other night playing Georgia when we were man to man. We went zone tonight and gave up nine threes…This group just has not grasped concepts.
“We have a lot of holes in a lot of different areas. So our job as a staff will be to continue to do what we can, try to provide teaching points…continue to try to get guys better.”
With Arkansas' tournament prospects dwindling, the Hogs will look to turn things around after an 0-3 start to conference play.
Up next, Arkansas will come back home for a matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
