Following back-to-back losses, the Arkansas Razorbacks (18-9, 7-7) wanted a get-right recreation towards the Florida Gators, and that’s precisely what they received with an 84-65 victory inside Bud Walton Arena.
Behind a career-high 26 factors from Jalen Graham and a plus-15 margin on the glass, the Hogs turned in an all-around nice efficiency towards Florida on Saturday.
“I think the flow offensively was really good,” head coach Eric Musselman stated. “I thought the defensive connectivity was really, really good tonight. There wasn’t a lot of clean looks for Florida.”
The Razorbacks’ 116.6 offensive effectivity score was their second finest in a convention win this season and their defensive effectivity score of 90.2 was their finest for the reason that Jan. 24 win over LSU.
All however two of the eight Arkansas gamers that noticed motion recorded not less than a 100 offensive score on KenPom for the Florida recreation. Graham earned a 148 and the “MVP” designation after he was 12-of-15 from the ground and 2-of-3 on the free throw line in the competition.
“When I first got in there, I just felt like I could score off the rip against both their bigs, especially when they put their smaller, littler guard,” Graham said. “I was like, ‘Yeah’. I just felt like I could get to my spots and rise up and just continue to be confident and just put the ball in the rim.”
Graham’s 27 minutes performed had been a season-high and he additionally introduced down seven rebounds. Musselman talked about that bettering on the boards is the following step for Graham, who’s already an elite scorer.
“We just need him to rebound, ’cause in this league every night the rebounding is so, so vital,” Musselman stated. “But he’s done a great job working. I’ve been on him about the free throws pretty hard and I thought he did a good job tonight converting the ones he had.”
Along with Graham working, the remainder of the staff is taking it on themselves to place in as a lot additional work as attainable to get issues discovered for a postseason run. Musselman talked about that a lot of the staff confirmed as much as the power early forward of Saturday’s recreation.
“An hour and a half is usually early,” Musselman stated. “I mean, we had guys well over two hours here early, and we met this morning at 9. So obviously the report time, you know, couldn’t be here any later than 11:20 or whatever it was today, and then we had guys well before 11, I promise you.”
The two losses to Mississippi State and Texas A&M undoubtedly set the staff again and overshadowed the return of freshman Nick Smith Jr., who scored 10 factors and added two steals in almost 32 minutes of motion.
“We certainly felt with a basketball team and a program that does not go live and hasn’t gone live because we want to be fresh in March,” Musselman stated. “So, it’s hard for Nick to play three-on-three post-practice and get rhythm. So, really happy that he got the minutes that he got tonight. Happy how his teammates responded with him, and he gives us a little bit of an edge.”
As of now, Arkansas has two Quad 1 street matchups at Alabama and Tennessee, a house Quad 2 matchup towards Kentucky and a Quad 3 recreation towards Georgia left on the schedule.
“The goal is to make it to the tournament,” Graham stated. “We needed this win. We got the win. There are four more games that we need to get wins in. We knew we needed this win and I’m happy we got it, but we’ve just got to keep going. We’ve got to get on a run like we did before we lost the two games. So that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
The subsequent problem might be towards the Georgia Bulldogs (16-11, 6-8) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT inside Bud Walton Arena. The recreation might be televised on the SEC Network.