After getting blown out earlier in the week by Ole Miss the Florida Gators couldn’t have had a better bounce back performance in front of their home crowd in Gainesville as they jumped ahead against the Arkansas Razorbacks early and never relented coming away with a monster 90-68 win. Midway through the first half the Gators had already built a 19-point lead and while there were some mini surges by the Razorbacks to make it look like they could possibly claw themselves back into the game Florida always punched back twice as hard and the final outcome was never in doubt. With the win the Gators improved to 1-2 in the SEC and 11-6 on the season while Arkansas continues to be in a tailspin falling to 0-3 in the league and 9-7 overall.
Setting The Table
UC Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin has been playing elite basketball as of late and while he has largely been doing it in the scoring column on Saturday it was all about the passing. Of course he still was able to get some key buckets early to help build Florida’s lead and he finished with 12, but after the Gators got the initial lead he went into full-on distribution mode. Arkansas switched from a man to man defense to a matchup zone and Pullin took it upon himself to pick it apart and he finished with 8 assists helping his teammates find open shots over and over again. Right now he’s playing as good offensively as any lead guard in the SEC and his ability to either take over with scoring or with his passing ability makes him exactly what the Gators need.
Bounce Back
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Riley Kugel culminating in a game where he only played 4 minutes against Ole Miss but things flipped completely on Saturday as he led the Gators in scoring with 20 points. After the Ole Miss game Coach Golden met with Kugel to talk about his struggles and he believed Kugel would have a big game and that was the case as he exploded for his biggest game in weeks. Not only did he put up points but he did it in style with some powerful dunks that electrified the home crowd as everyone in the building was happy to see him finally playing the basketball he was capable of. When he was subbed out for the final time late in the second he was embraced with a huge hug from Coach Golden as well as the other members of the staff and his teammates–a sign of just how much everyone supports the young guard.
Also with a bit of a bounce back performance was Will Richard who had 13 points, a huge improvement from the first two league games where he couldn’t make the spot up jumpers he is known for.
Making Adjustments
When the Gators were getting blown out by Ole Miss on Wednesday their pick and roll defense was non-existent. After cleaning it up in practice it was a massive strength against Arkansas as they used their “drop” scheme to take away pull up three opportunities and funnel guards into the bulk of Florida’s defense. It started with Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton being active on the ball, was followed by Florida’s dropping bigs playing tight angles to protect the rim, and was completed with the help side assisting on low tags to tag away lob opportunities. The pick and roll is such a huge part of the modern game and if you can guard those actions well you’re going to have a lot of success defensively and we saw that with how the Gators completely neutralized the Razorbacks.
Final Thoughts
Going into Saturday’s game you thought it was going to be a show of pure desperation between two teams that didn’t yet have an SEC win and it seemed like only one team came out with energy and passion–the Gators. From the opening tip they were playing with intensity and focus and their determination guided them on both sides of the floor as they jumped out to a huge lead. Sometimes focus can fade when you get up so big so early but the Gators simply never took their foot off the gas and it was a dominant fourty minute game. Yes, it needs to be noted that Arkansas has been playing terrible basketball as of late, but they still have some accomplished SEC players and you can only play the team in front of you and the Gators took care of business and then some. Florida should have a much more difficult test next when they take on the Tennessee Volunteers who many have picked to win the league.