#24 Arkansas 75, Florida 64
Bud Walton Arena
Fayetteville, Ark.
Records: Florida 10-6 (6-5 SEC), #24/RV Arkansas 17-5 (9-4 SEC)
Box Score (PDF)<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_documents_2021_2_16_2021-5F02-5F16-5FUF-5Fat-5FArkansas.pdf&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=YuC-c4a1S5jp20Ce7g_7pb1hsRxlYaeiVOmRhfOs1so&s=PmXOZ0_VfMPy3lvDRgP-OzLIhnP4XnN2PWwD-gWqm1M&e= >
2020-21 Season Stats<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_documents_2020_12_2_2020-5F21-5FUFstats.pdf&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=YuC-c4a1S5jp20Ce7g_7pb1hsRxlYaeiVOmRhfOs1so&s=GkLIk8CJ0Brejg6W56MrCsq8kaQH5Oz-ZkRoz-BDLL4&e= >
Notable & Quotable
* Tyree Appleby led the Gators in scoring in a return to his home state, scoring 16.
* Colin Castleton also scored double figures with 13 points, including 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
* Florida recorded six blocked shots, on track with the team’s nation’s-best 6.3 blocks per game average.
* Florida had a tough night from 3-point range, shooting just 4-for-21 (.190), but was outstanding from the free throw line with a perfect 14-for-14 mark at the stripe. It marked the Gators’ most free throws made without a miss since hitting all 14 vs. Alabama on Feb. 8, 2003, and tied for the third-most all-time (record: 27, 1/8/94 at Tennessee).
Head Coach Mike White
On his overall thoughts of the game…
“I thought Arkansas was really good late. Forcing turnovers, we had a couple tough decisions I wish that we could have back. I thought they played (Colin) Castleton really well deep on a post touch he had in front of our bench. I thought we lost a little bit of poise. They’re a really good defensive team and we fought back. It’s a shame, we gave ourselves a chance there late and we just didn’t execute as well down the stretch as we needed to.”
On the team’s overall performance…
“I was very displeased with our overall physical effort in the first half. We didn’t match Arkansas’ intensity and competitiveness level. I thought we did in the second half, but again down the stretch, didn’t make the plays needed but the first 15 minutes of the second half, we were very competitive.”
Colin Castleton
On the second half…
“Yeah, to be honest with you I feel like I did a bad job in the first half of being a leader. Then we went into halftime, regrouped. We didn’t do anything really different in terms of our press, just the way we went about the second half that helped us and gave us a chance. Personally, I have to do a better job leading in the first half.”
On what needs to be improved on to finish games…
“When you get stops, it builds your confidence as a team and individually and you can get out on a run. I don’t think we got enough stops and they just scored on us and we were just stagnant a little careless with the ball.”
