Slow start, strong finish: Gators get a road win at Arkansas, 71-63

Alex Condon blocks a shot in the first half (UAA Photo)

The way things started Saturday it seemed obvious the Florida Gators hit the road while leaving all semblances of functional defense back in Gainesville for a second straight weekend. Arkansas hit its first shots with such ease that the 19,200 shoehorned into Bud Walton Arena were already thinking blowout even though only 3:14 had been wiped off the clock. An 11-2 lead on the nation’s 8th-ranked team will do that for you, especially when you’re 0-2 out of the SEC blocks.

The Razorbacks had a 9-point lead and they hadn’t even broken into a sweat. Florida, meanwhile seemed to be sweating bullets. Coming off a 30-point blowout of Tennessee, the Gators were playing like a team hung over with its own success. At one end of the floor they couldn’t make a shot. At the other they couldn’t defend. Can’t shoot, can’t defend. When you’re on the road in this year’s lights out Southeastern Conference, that’s a quick way to get whomped.

As quickly as the Razorbacks heated up, however, the Gators cooled them down. The bad defense was an aberration. It took awhile for the offense to come around, but come around it did. By the time the clock flatlined at all zeroes in the second half, Florida (15-1, 2-1 SEC) had taken down the Razorbacks, 71-63.

It was anything but the prettiest of wins, but the pretty wins count the same as the ugly ones. This one was somewhere in between.

“I think we were fighting a little bit of human nature after Tuesday night,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after keeping Arkansas (11-5, 0-3 SEC) winless in SEC play. “Great win for us, and we were a little fatigued both emotionally and physically. I was a little worried about how we would be able to respond against a team that was awfully hungry and competitive. Early on, obviously we struggled a little bit, but our guys were pretty resilient. I thought we fought. We weren’t perfect, but we competed well enough to win.”

After their 5-for-5 shooting start that included a 3-pointer, the Razorbacks struggled to find the ocean from the end of the pier. They went 4-26 the rest of the first half, missing their last five 3-pointers. It didn’t get much better in the second half. Arkansas was 9-29 from the field in the last 20 minutes, 2-10 from the 3-point line and one of those was a bank shot in the final second of a game long since decided.

In Florida’s last two games, the Gators have allowed Tennessee and Arkansas to hit a combined 30-116 (25.8 percent) overall, 7-45 (15.5 percent) from the 3-point line. You win a lot of games when you play that kind of defense.

The Gators didn’t exactly burn it up offensively. Florida led, 28-25, at halftime, the lowest first half scoring total of the season. Even with a much-improved second half it wasn’t exactly offense to write home about.

“We didn’t handle their pressure very well, but I thought we left some points out there behind the 3-point line,” Golden said. “We were 3-for-16 in the first half from three. I thought we got some really good looks that we didn’t knock down.”

After a first half when they went 11-35 (31.4 percent) from the field which included 3-16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point line the Gators shot a very respectable 48.4 percent (14-29) overall and 5-12 (41.7 percent) from the 3-point line in the final 20 minutes.

The second half stats were bolstered by a sizzling finish. After Arkansas had closed a one-time 11-point lead to 53-50 on a parting the Red Sea thunder dunk by DJ Wagner with 6:11 to go, Alex Condon started the Gators on a 7-0 run with an offensive rebound and a kickout to Walter Clayton Jr. for a 3-pointer. Condon hit a pair of free throws then dunked on a leak-out fast break to make it a 60-50 game with 4:33 to go.

The Gators toyed with the Razorbacks for the next two-and-a-half minutes before Condon struck again. This time it was Clayton who was the set-up man. He penetrated past a Condon screen into the paint, drawing two defenders. Condon slipped behind the 3-point line, took the pass from Clayton and drilled a 3-ball with 2:02 left to put the Gators up 68-58. He followed that up with a drive to the rack that put the Gators ahead by 12, 70-58, with 1:23 left.

For all practical purposes, that made it game, set, match Florida in spite of the whistle-happy zebra crew of Joe Lindsey that fouled out Rueben Chinyelu, Alijah Martin and Thomas Haugh. Arkansas got to the foul line 15 more times than the Gators but the Razorbacks were less than lethal, converting only 22-35.

What saved the Gators was another dominant performance on the backboards. The Gators outrebounded Arkansas 49-39 with Condon yanking down 10 to go with his 12 points, four assists and four blocked shots. Florida also got outstanding efforts off the bench by big guys Thomas Haugh and Sam Alexis. Haugh had eight points, seven rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.

Alexis contributed six points and seven rebounds, perhaps his best game against a good team this season.

“We talked about if we’re going to reach our goals of being an elite team and playing deep into March, we need different guys to step up on different nights,” Golden said. “He (Alexis) had an extended opportunity tonight with all the foul trouble we were playing through. To his credit, there was no drop-off when he was in the game. This was the first time where we’ve played a really good opponent in a big game where I thought he looked like he felt comfortable.

“He did everything we asked him to do. I thought he was super aggressive getting 50-50 rebounds. I thought he did a great job initiating our offense out of the elbow. I told him after the game, if we continue to get him playing better and better, it’s obviously going to make us pretty tough.”

Next up for the Gators is Missouri (13-3, 2-1 SEC) Tuesday night (9 p.m., ESPNU) at the O-Dome.

Game notes: Martin led the Gators with 14 points before fouling out. Scoring 12 each were Condon, Clayton and Will Richard ... The Gators shot 39.1 percent (25-64) overall from the field, 8-28 (28.6 percent) from the 3-point line ... Florida’s 49-39 rebounding advantage resulted in the Gators holding a 19-6 advantage in second chance points. The Gators had a 19-7 advantage in points off the bench ... Clayton hit two threes in the game. He has hit at least one 3-pointer in 39 consecutive games, tying Lee Humphrey for the all-time school record. Michael Frazier III holds the school record at 41 games.

SEC BASKETBALL

Saturday’s scores

No. 8 FLORIDA (15-1, 2-1 SEC) 71, Arkansas (11-5, 0-3 SEC) 63

No. 1 Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) 74, Texas (11-5, 0-3 SEC) 70

No. 2 Auburn (15-1, 3-0 SEC) 66, South Carolina (10-6, 0-3 SEC) 63

No. 5 Alabama (14-2, 3-0 SEC) 94, No. 10 Texas A&M (13-3, 2-1 SEC) 88

No. 6 Kentucky (13-3, 2-1 SEC) 95, No. 14 Mississippi State (14-2, 2-1 SEC) 90

Georgia (14-2, 2-1 SEC) 72, No. 17 Oklahoma (13-3, 0-3 SEC) 62

No. 23 Ole Miss (14-2, 3-0 SEC) 77, LSU (11-5, 0-3 SEC) 65

Missouri (13-3, 2-1 SEC) 75, Vanderbilt (13-3, 1-2 SEC) 66

Tuesday’s games

Missouri (13-3, 2-1 SEC) at No. 8 FLORIDA (15-1, 2-1 SEC)

No. 23 Ole Miss (14-2, 3-0 SEC) at No. 5 Alabama (14-2, 3-0 SEC)

No. 10 Texas A&M (13-3, 2-1 SEC) at No. 6 Kentucky (13-3, 2-1 SEC)

Arkansas (11-5, 0-3 SEC) at LSU (11-5, 0-3 SEC)

Wednesday’s games

Georgia (14-2, 2-1 SEC) at No. 1 Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC)

Texas (11-5, 0-3 SEC) at No. 17 Oklahoma (13-3, 0-3 SEC)

South Carolina (10-6, 0-3 SEC) at Vanderbilt (13-3, 1-2 SEC)