GAME STORY: Arkansas loses third straight game to open SEC play as No. 8 Florida grinds out 71-63 win Saturday at BWA

By Kevin McPherson

Arkansas historically has been really bad out of the gates in SEC play, and the 2024-25 version of the Razorbacks is holding true to form after suffering their third consecutive loss to open league play as No. 8 Florida forged a 71-63 grinding win on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

In a third straight contest where they shot miserably from three (3-of-16 for 18.8%) while losing the rebounding battle (49-39) and being effectively neutralized in turnovers (only plus-2 at 10-8] and in transition scoring (minus-2 at 12-10), the Razorbacks could not take advantage of an unexpected lopsided advantage in free throw attempts — 35 FTAs for the Hogs compared to the Gators’ 20, but Arkansas missed 11 of those freebies — and they struggled finishing off drives to the basket, missing at least 10 layups / shots at the rim.

Despite those problem areas, the Razorbacks had erased an 11-point second-half deficit and trailed by only 3 points, 53-50, on the strength of sophomore guard DJ Wagner’s drive through the defense for an emphatic dunk with 6:11 remaining in the contest. But the Gators responded with a three-point field goal by star guard Walter Clayton, Jr., following an offensive rebound to push their lead to 6 points, 56-50, and that was the start of a 10-2 Florida run that vaulted the visitors back into a double-digit lead, 63-52, with 3:53 left to play. The Hogs would get no closer than a 7-point deficit the rest of the way.

Arkansas (11-5, 0-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 48) — coming off back-to-back losses to No. 1-ranked Tennessee (76-52 on Jan. 4) and No. 23 Ole Miss (73-66 on Jan. 8] — has lost back-to-back home games as part of its three-game losing streak after starting the season 8-0 at BWA.

“Top-10 team, hold them to 39% from the floor, 28% from the three, out-rebound us by 10,” Arkansas head coach Jon Calipari said after the game. “A bunch of those were at the end of the game. Offensive rebounds. We miss a bunch of free throws. We miss a bunch of layups, and we still have a chance, and then we start missing free throws. So, I got to look and say, ‘are we playing the right people? Are we playing the right way?’ We’re getting shots. We’re getting layups. We got to the free throw line. We did all the stuff we’re trying to do. And, then the other thing is, there was emotion showed in that game in one play … He (Wagner) dunks it, goes to the crowd, goes crazy. Why isn’t that us? Why aren’t you absolutely excited about playing? I think part of it is, if someone doesn’t play well, they can’t get out of their own self’s way. But, you don’t have to play great. You don’t even have to play good, just defend, dive on the floor, talk, be a great teammate, chest bump, get everybody going and you’ll bounce out of that. We haven’t learned that yet.

“I’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to make some shots. Do I got to play some different people? Probably. Maybe that big lineup is the answer for us for a while. You’ll say, ‘Well, you won’t shoot it as well’. We ain’t shooting it well right now. So, let’s, you know, we just got to figure stuff out. Like I said, disappointed. We gave ourselves a chance, and then every time it was critical, it was a missed free throw. And in the end, I’m still trying to tell these guys, you cannot draw fouls when you’re driving for layups. You have to make the layup, don’t avoid, just go make the layup and hope they call a foul. If you go in there to throw it, you’re not making it, and they’re not calling it. And they’ll tell you, ‘We’re not bailing you out. You had no chance of making it’. We’re still doing that. That’s more high school, AAU stuff, but we’ll get through it. Got a tough one coming up (at LSU on Tuesday). I didn’t even know when we play. I was hoping it was Wednesday, but I knew it would be on the road because we’ve had two home (games), and all of a sudden, it is. So we’ve got to do something tomorrow, do something on Monday, travel, and go on the road and try and get this thing right.”

The Hogs fell to 9-2 at home on the season (includes a win over UCA in North Little Rock in mid-December). They’re 2-3 away from home (includes a 1-2 mark in neutral-site tilts and 1-1 in true road games).

The loss to Florida (15-1, 2-1 SEC, NCAA NET No. 5) dropped Arkansas to 15-28 in the all-time series as the Hogs have lost the last two meetings between the two programs.

The Razorbacks are now 1-5 in Quad-1 games, 0-0 in Q2, 3-0 in Q3, and 7-0 in Q4.

Next up for the Razorbacks is an SEC road game at LSU on Tuesday (8 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

In addition to the aforementioned woes in three-point shooting, overall rebounding, turnovers, and fastbreak scoring, the Razorbacks were once again atrocious overall shooting from the field (18-of-60 for 30.0%) while being dominated in second-chance-points (19-6), points-in-the-paint (32-22), and bench scoring (19-7). The Hogs finished the game 24-of-35 at the foul line (68.6%).

Defensively, Arkansas held Florida to only 25-of-64 field goal shooting (39.1%), including 8-of-28 from 3 (28.6%). The Gators struggled from the foul line, too, hitting only 13-of-20 for 65.0%). The Hogs narrowly won points-off-turnovers (12-8), blocks (8-7), and steals (6-4), and they finished the game competitive in offensive rebounds (only minus-1, 16-15, when the dust settled) although the corresponding second-chance-points heavily favored the Gators.

Florida’s four leading scorers on the season — Clayton (12 points and 5 assists); Alijah Martin (14 points including 4-of-7 from 3 to go with rebounds); Alex Condon (12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists); and Will Richard (12 points and 8 rebounds) — led the way for the Gators.

Arkansas’ leading scorer on the season, junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero, played only 20 minutes before fouling out but scored a game-high 17 points (4-of-10 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws) to go with 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, and a boxscore plus-4. Freshman guard Boogie Fland had 15 points (9 of which came late) as he hit 5-of-5 free throws and 2-of-3 from 3, but he shot only 2-of-10 on two-point field goals. Fland also had 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal. Wagner chipped in 9 points (3-of-11 field goals, including 1-of-4 from 3, and 2-of-4 free throws), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.

Preseason All SEC guard Johnell Davis had his second ZERO-point scoring game in SEC play as he was 0-of-8 from the field, including 0-of-5 from 3. Preaseason and returning ALL SEC big man Jonas Aidoo had his most productive game in league play — 11 points (4-of-5 field goals and 3-of-6 free throws), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers in 32 minutes. Reserve forward Trevon Brazile put in 7 points (all coming in the first half), 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Freshman wing Karter Knox started and had 4 points (1-of-7 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws) while freshman wing Billy Richmond III and sophomore big man Zvonimir Ivisic both played but did not score.

Calipari started Knox, Aidoo, Wagner, Fland, and Thiero against Florida.

Arkansas took an early 9-point lead for the second conseuctive game only to see it dissolve quickly for a second consecutive game. Fland opened the contest with a pull-up jumper, Wagner hit a three-pointer, Thiero hit a deep perimeter shot, and Aidoo scored twice at the rim as the Hogs jumoped out to an 11-2 advantage.

But Florida went to work on the offensive glass and quickly surged ahead, leading by as many as six points (28-22) before the Hogs closed the first half on a mini 3-0 spurt to pull within 28-25 at the break.

Brazile had 7 points (including a putback to beat the halftime buzzer), 5 rebounds, and 2 steals to lead the Razorbacks in the first 20 minutes.