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03-10-2018, 12:13 PM
ST. LOUIS, Mo. â After exiting the regular season on a run of three impressive victories, and with oodles of momentum and confidence heading into the postseason, coach Mike White several times reminded anyone paying attention during the last six days that his Florida basketball had not handled prosperity very well over the course of the year.
And the Gators still don't.
Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, center Daniel Gafford had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and the Razorbacks sizzled to nearly 54 percent shooting in the second half in delivering an 80-72 defeat that knocked No. 23 UF from Friday's quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center.
For Florida (20-12), it was the second straight one-and-out exit from the league tournament, and marked the fourth straight year the Gators failed to stick around for the Saturday semifinals. Now, all they can do is wait for Sunday night when the NCAA Tournament will announce its field of 68 teams, with UF likely falling between a No. 6 or 8 seed.
That number could have been so much better, but the Gators needed to be a lot better than they were against the Razorbacks (23-10), who clearly had grown weary of losing so often in the series (eight straight and 13 of the previous 14 coming in), and did something about it.
"It wasn't our best effort," White said. "We took a step backward."
On both ends of the floor.
The ball movement and confident shooting strokes that helped fuel consecutive wins over league co-champion Auburn, at Alabama, and against Kentucky six days earlier weren't there. Leading scorer Jalen Hudson, who combined for 49 points the previous two games, made just two of nine shots and finished with six points, three of which came with five seconds to go in the game. Forward Egor Koulechov, the team's No. 2 scorer, hit his first two 3-point attempts, then missed his remaining nine shots to finish with only eight points. KeVaughn Allen, who had 28 points when UF defeated Arkansas 88-73 in the regular-season meeting Jan. 17 at Gainesville, never got on track, either, on his way to 11 points. Instead, it was forward Keith Stone's 22 points, including four 3-pointers, and senior point guard Chris Chiozza's 16 points and six assists pacing an offense that was out of sorts against Arkansas's multiple defensive adjustments, including a matchup zone that really affected UF's rhythm.
And speaking of defense, the new-found commitment to that end of the floor the Gators had been talking about went missing. From the game's outset, it was more like a new-lost commitment. Barford and the Razorbacks found straight-line allies to the rim (30 points in the paint) and destroyed the Gators on the glass (43-28 rebounding margin, including 14-8 on the offensive end).
Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford (0) was a tough cover for Jalen Hudson or whatever Gators ended up on him.
Down seven late in the first half, the Hogs hit four of their last five shots of the period to close on an 8-0 run that gave them the lead, the momentum and a ton of confidence that carried over into the second period.
"We didn't defend very well, and they just ⦠they made some shots and got playing out in transition," senior point guard Chris Chiozza said. "We didn't get any stops for a couple minutes there, and they went on a nice little run."
Added Stone: "We had a couple breakdowns, but still we should have fought like we did in [these] past games. We should have tightened on defense. Just because we didn't make shots doesn't mean we shouldn't have played defense."
Once again, the Gators allowed the sights of missed shots impact their focus on the other end. Sound familiar?
"Chris was pretty good, and Keith Stone was fantastic for us. After that, we just â in terms of our personnel â we've got to be better. We've got to play with more energy. We've got to get stops," White said. "Their matchup zone gave us issues, but our biggest strength is getting out in transition and scoring off of stops, and scoring off of some turnovers."
UF forward Keith Stone had one of his finest games as a Gator, scoring 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from the 3-point line, to go with five rebounds.
Arkansas, though, only turned the ball over six times, and weren't at all accommodating as far as allowing Florida to get the stops it needed. Barford, the first-team All-SEC selection who had 28 in the loss at Gainesville two months ago, hit nine of 17 shots, including four 3s, to go with his 10 boards and three assists. Gafford went 8-for-11, with five of his 12 boards on the offensive glass.
"Barford? This guy is capable of just going off, just going on runs by himself," Hogs coach Mike Anderson said. "That's the beauty of this team here. I always tell those guys [that] they don't have to go get the game. It will come to them. They know when to take advantage of that moment."
In this case, it happened with about 10 minutes to play. That's when the Razorbacks blew open a game they led by just two, at 50-48, by taking off on a 16-2 run during which Barford scored eight. That took the lead out to 14 at the 5:58 mark and the closest the Gators closed thereafter was seven.
Defensively, Anderson said his team's focus was to wall up on Chiozza and not let a combination of UF's big three scorers beat them. None of them got close to heating up.
"Some of us were ready to play. Some of us weren't," Stone said.
Obviously, that can't be the case the next time the Gators take the floor. If it is, it'll be the last time they do so as a team.
"It's never a good feeling to lose," Chiozza said. "Hopefully, this gives us the edge back that we had. I don't really know what else to say about it."
Which pretty much said everything.
http://floridagators.com/news/2018/3/10/...ament.aspx
And the Gators still don't.
Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, center Daniel Gafford had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and the Razorbacks sizzled to nearly 54 percent shooting in the second half in delivering an 80-72 defeat that knocked No. 23 UF from Friday's quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center.
For Florida (20-12), it was the second straight one-and-out exit from the league tournament, and marked the fourth straight year the Gators failed to stick around for the Saturday semifinals. Now, all they can do is wait for Sunday night when the NCAA Tournament will announce its field of 68 teams, with UF likely falling between a No. 6 or 8 seed.
That number could have been so much better, but the Gators needed to be a lot better than they were against the Razorbacks (23-10), who clearly had grown weary of losing so often in the series (eight straight and 13 of the previous 14 coming in), and did something about it.
"It wasn't our best effort," White said. "We took a step backward."
On both ends of the floor.
The ball movement and confident shooting strokes that helped fuel consecutive wins over league co-champion Auburn, at Alabama, and against Kentucky six days earlier weren't there. Leading scorer Jalen Hudson, who combined for 49 points the previous two games, made just two of nine shots and finished with six points, three of which came with five seconds to go in the game. Forward Egor Koulechov, the team's No. 2 scorer, hit his first two 3-point attempts, then missed his remaining nine shots to finish with only eight points. KeVaughn Allen, who had 28 points when UF defeated Arkansas 88-73 in the regular-season meeting Jan. 17 at Gainesville, never got on track, either, on his way to 11 points. Instead, it was forward Keith Stone's 22 points, including four 3-pointers, and senior point guard Chris Chiozza's 16 points and six assists pacing an offense that was out of sorts against Arkansas's multiple defensive adjustments, including a matchup zone that really affected UF's rhythm.
And speaking of defense, the new-found commitment to that end of the floor the Gators had been talking about went missing. From the game's outset, it was more like a new-lost commitment. Barford and the Razorbacks found straight-line allies to the rim (30 points in the paint) and destroyed the Gators on the glass (43-28 rebounding margin, including 14-8 on the offensive end).
Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford (0) was a tough cover for Jalen Hudson or whatever Gators ended up on him.
Down seven late in the first half, the Hogs hit four of their last five shots of the period to close on an 8-0 run that gave them the lead, the momentum and a ton of confidence that carried over into the second period.
"We didn't defend very well, and they just ⦠they made some shots and got playing out in transition," senior point guard Chris Chiozza said. "We didn't get any stops for a couple minutes there, and they went on a nice little run."
Added Stone: "We had a couple breakdowns, but still we should have fought like we did in [these] past games. We should have tightened on defense. Just because we didn't make shots doesn't mean we shouldn't have played defense."
Once again, the Gators allowed the sights of missed shots impact their focus on the other end. Sound familiar?
"Chris was pretty good, and Keith Stone was fantastic for us. After that, we just â in terms of our personnel â we've got to be better. We've got to play with more energy. We've got to get stops," White said. "Their matchup zone gave us issues, but our biggest strength is getting out in transition and scoring off of stops, and scoring off of some turnovers."
UF forward Keith Stone had one of his finest games as a Gator, scoring 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from the 3-point line, to go with five rebounds.
Arkansas, though, only turned the ball over six times, and weren't at all accommodating as far as allowing Florida to get the stops it needed. Barford, the first-team All-SEC selection who had 28 in the loss at Gainesville two months ago, hit nine of 17 shots, including four 3s, to go with his 10 boards and three assists. Gafford went 8-for-11, with five of his 12 boards on the offensive glass.
"Barford? This guy is capable of just going off, just going on runs by himself," Hogs coach Mike Anderson said. "That's the beauty of this team here. I always tell those guys [that] they don't have to go get the game. It will come to them. They know when to take advantage of that moment."
In this case, it happened with about 10 minutes to play. That's when the Razorbacks blew open a game they led by just two, at 50-48, by taking off on a 16-2 run during which Barford scored eight. That took the lead out to 14 at the 5:58 mark and the closest the Gators closed thereafter was seven.
Defensively, Anderson said his team's focus was to wall up on Chiozza and not let a combination of UF's big three scorers beat them. None of them got close to heating up.
"Some of us were ready to play. Some of us weren't," Stone said.
Obviously, that can't be the case the next time the Gators take the floor. If it is, it'll be the last time they do so as a team.
"It's never a good feeling to lose," Chiozza said. "Hopefully, this gives us the edge back that we had. I don't really know what else to say about it."
Which pretty much said everything.
http://floridagators.com/news/2018/3/10/...ament.aspx
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