The scene in Gainesville was nothing short of spectacular on Saturday night as the Florida Gators, who welcomed ESPN’s College GameDay to town, put on a show as they completely decimated the Arkansas Razorbacks 111-77. If that score looks unbelievable, feel free to fact check it–because for forty minutes nothing seemed real. This was a battle between the number one and number two teams in the SEC standings but the Gators made the Razorbacks look like a buy game opponent in November, completely outclassing them in just about every element of the game leading to the blowout win. Making things seem even more unreal was the constant whistles, reviews, and general stoppages that extended the beatdown to over two and a half hours from opening tip to final buzzer making it an even more unique experience. With the win the Gators will have at least a share of the SEC regular season title, and they just need to win one of their last two remaining games to officially seal it. If college basketball is about peaking at the right time, it looks like Florida got the memo, completely dismantling a quality opponent just minutes before the calendar turned from February to March.
Leading The Way
Regular readers will know that this is normally the time to highlight the leading scorer or Florida’s general MVP, but on a night where so many Gators contributed to the massive win just about everyone deserves a shoutout. Florida’s rotation has turned into an eight man endeavour and all eight of them played some of their best ball with seven players also scoring in double figures.
Thomas Haugh had 22 points and 5 rebounds, also throwing in some highlight reel defensive plays.
Alex Condon had 17 points and 6 rebounds, taking advantage of some smaller players in matchups.
Boogie Fland had 14 points and did an excellent job defensively on star guard Darius Acuff.
Urban Klavzar kept up his hot shooting going 4-7 from three and finishing with 14 points.
Xaivian Lee had 13 points and 5 assists, showing some ability to finish at the rim which he struggled with in the opening months of the season.
Rueben Chinyelu was an enforcer on the inside, finishing with a familiar looking 12 point, 16 rebound night.
Isaiah Brown looked like an SEC veteran, adding 11 points.
Micah Handlogten showed energy off the bench with 4 points and 8 rebounds.
All of these players deserved recognition, as if you’re going to beat a top team in the SEC by this much–everyone would have to chip in.
Size Discrepancy
Throughout his career John Calipari has been known for his big, athletic, shot blocking, lob catching centers that could dominate the paint, but this year he chose to go with more skill at the position which has improved Arkansas’ offensive flow, but it has hurt the Razorbacks with defense and rebounding. Outsized at every position, it was apparent early that Arkansas was going to be in a world of hurt and the Gators capitalized immediately, at one point in the first half having 22 points in the paint at the same time Arkansas had 22 total points. At the end of the game the Gators were only (only…) +12 in this category, but that spoke to how they started to drain jumper and jumper and didn’t need to get into the paint–Florida is quietly starting to shoot the ball better, and finished this game 8-19 (42%) from three. Defensively, it was like the Gators formed a wall each time Arkansas tried to drive the ball and multiple possessions ended with ugly shot attempts or turnovers, opportunities the Gators quickly turned into transition opportunities on the other end.
The O’Dome Faithful
On a night where Florida got really strong contributions from the top eight players in their rotation, perhaps the real MVP were the fans in attendance. With all eyes on Gainesville for College Gameday the fans couldn’t be louder or more engaged, and they seemed as much a character in this story as any players on the court. In a game that had a preposterous amount of stoppages for lengthy reviews, the energy in the building could have been completely sucked out. Often these games that are slowed by whistles result in a quieter event, but the Florida fans used these breaks from action to get even louder, not just filling the dead space outside of the action but keeping the constant pressure on the road team and firing up the home squad. The Florida fanbase couldn’t have been presented much better than by what was displayed Saturday and everyone in attendance deserves major credit.
Final Thoughts
Just looking at the records in the SEC you can see the Gators have proven themselves to be the best team in the league but they decided to leave no doubt and take the crown with some style points. This is a team playing with unlimited energy and confidence, and you are seeing opponents get the life squeezed out of them with no opportunity to come up for air. For the last several weeks garbage time has come early, but this was another level as it seemed like the Gators had won before the under four media timeout…of the first half. The only challenge for the Gators now will be remaining focused in their final two regular season games before the real pursuit for a back to back Championship begins.