Arkansas looks helpless in 90-68 beatdown at Florida as Hoop Hogs start SEC play 0-3 for second time in last three seasons

By Kevin McPherson

The Arkansas Razorbacks were once again too dysfunctional at both ends of the floor to avoid becoming road kill for a second consecutive game as the Florida Gators romped and chomped their way to a 90-68 home win Saturday in a matchup between winless SEC teams in Gainesville, Fla.

Florida was high octane on offense against a leaky and anemic Arkansas defense — both in man-to-man and in a never-before-seen Musselman zone defense — and the Gators dominated the glass (48-31, including 15-9 on the offensive boards), second-chance-points (17-8), and points-in-the paint (38-28) while building leads of 19 points in the first half, 13 points at halftime, 20 points early in the second half, and as much as 25 points late in the game.

The Hoop Hogs (9-7, 0-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 107) have lost three consecutive games, and for the second time in the last three seasons they have begun league play winless through their first three games. Arkansas is now 2-5 in games played away from its home at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, which includes a 0-2 mark in true road games. The Hogs’ three SEC losses have each been by double-digit margins for a combined losing margin of 64 points (an average losing margin of 21.3 points per game).

The Razorbacks’ NET resume now includes a 1-4 mark in Q1 games, 0-2 in Q2, 3-1 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4. Arkansas had its three-game winning streak in the series snapped as Florida (11-5, 1-2 SEC, NCAA NET No. 59) improved to 27-15 in the all-time against the Hogs.

The Gators hit 33-of-67 field goals (49.3%), including 9-of-25 from 3 (36.0%), and 15-of-20 at the foul line (75.0%). Defensively, Florida held Arkansas to 23-of-61 field goal shooting (37.7%), including 5-of-15 from 3 (33.3%). The Razorbacks made 17-of-25 free throws (68.0%).

“We’re through three SEC games and we’re not playing (up to Arkansas standards),” fifth-year head coach Eric Musselman said. “We’ve been here four years and we’ve been a team that’s been super tough minded, we’ve been a team that competes, we’ve been a team that battles. We’ve been a team that has grit. We have not done (that) this year at all.

“I haven’t played zone at all since I’ve been in college. But we’re not guarding anybody one-on-one, so the thought process was to put zone in yesterday to try to help us with dribble-drives. It helped for a little bit as a change of pace. It maybe slowed Florida down for a little bit. But just as with any zone and man, you’ve got to be able to guard either the guy in your area or the guy you’re assigned to, whether it’s man or zone. Our inability to play defense, to take away the three really doesn’t matter. We gave up nine threes the other night (9-of-27) playing Georgia when we were man to man. We went zone tonight and gave up nine threes. We need to play like our past teams have. This group just has not grasped concepts whether it’s man or you put in a zone.”

Sophomore guard Riley Kugel led five Gators in double figure-scoring with 20 points to go with 5 rebounds and 2 steals off the bench. Tyrese Samuel had a double-double — 17 points, 11 rebounds. Guard Zyon Pullin contributed 15 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 steal. Will Richard put in 13 points to go with 2 rebounds and 2 blocks, and guard Walton Clayton, Jr., chipped in 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Arkansas was led by freshman guard Layden Blocker (14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block, and a boxscore plus-2 in 24 minutes). Senior wing Jeremiah Davenport (13 points and 3 assists in 25 minutes); sophomore wing Joseph Pinion (12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block in 21 minutes); junior wing Tamon Mark (12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block in 29 minutes); and senior forward Jalen Graham (10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks) each provided double-figure scoring.

“Really happy with the play of Laydon Blocker and Joseph Pinion,” Musselman said. “Those guys, one of them’s plus-2, one of them’s minus-1. I just thought they played hard. I thought they played the right way. And their numbers are indicative of that. That’s why their plus-minuses are what it is. And it wasn’t like they just played insignificant minutes. Those guys did play 21 minutes and 24 minutes.

“So I was proud of our two young guys on how they battled.”

Blocker believes the Hogs can turn things around despite their recent rough performances.

“You know it’s been tough for everyone,” Blocker said. “For the past couple games we haven’t been playing our best. What we’re capable of doing. We just got to keep working, keep our heads up and just keep trying to fight. We got to click, we’re going to click soon. At the end of the day, we’ll be where we want to be.”

Musselman slipped to 104-49 overall as Head Hog, which includes a 45-36 mark against SEC foes and a 59-13 record against non-conference opponents (all three marks include postseason results).

Next up for Arkansas is the team’s return home to Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville as the Hoop Hogs will play host to Texas A&M at 8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Jan. 16 (SEC Network).

Against Florida on Saturday, Musselman started the quintet of Davenport, Mark, Trevon Brazile, Makhi Mitchell, and Davonte “Devo” Davis.

An early triple by Brazile gave the Hogs a 7-5 lead, but Florida had its way offensively against Arkansas’ porous man-to-man defense while outscoring the Razorbacks 24-3 to take a 29-10 lead.

Arkansas switched to a zone defense and made several successful hustle plays before cashing those in for fastbreak scores to fuel a 15-5 run — capped by a Davenport three-pointer in secondary transition — that pulled the Hogs within 34-25 late in the first half, but the Gators extended their advantage to 13 points, 46-33, going into the break.

Davenport (13 points, 3 assists,and 1 steal) led the first-half production for the Hogs.

Arkansas had 5 first-half assists for 12-of-31 field goal shooting (32.7%), including 4-of-8 from 3 (50.0%). The Hogs were a dismal 5-of-11 at the free throw line (45.5%) in the opening half.

Defensively, the Hogs yielded 17-of-35 field goal shooting (48.6%) to the Gators in the first half, including 4-of-10 from 3 (40.0%). Florida shot 8-of-10 at the free throw line (80.0%) in the first 20 minutes.

Florida dominated the glass (27-14, including 9-4 on the offensive boards), second-chance-points (10-2), and points-in-the-paint (22-10). The Gators also won fastbreak points (7-4), turnovers (6-5), and points-off-turnovers (6-5).