The Gators held Arkansas to just 1-of-13 shooting from three-point range.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida has crossed the 20-win threshold for the first time since 2015-16 following a 76-67 victory over Arkansas in Exactech Arena on Thursday evening.
For the Gators (20-6, 10-3 SEC), defense reigned on Billy Donovan Court. Arkansas (16-9, 6-6 SEC), who entered the matchup leading the Southeastern Conference with 9.2 triples per game. Florida managed to hold the opposition to just 1-of-13 shooting (7.7%) from deep when the Razorbacks’ previous low was four threes at Vanderbilt on Jan. 6.
In addition to stopping Arkansas’ three-point barrage, the Gators forced the Razorbacks into 20 turnovers, an impressive feat as the Razorbacks entered Thursday evening second in the nation with just 10.8 per game. Faith Dut led the effort statistically, tallying four steals on the night while Emanuely de Oliveira ended with two.
The defensive intensity helped Florida to a 22-3 advantage in fast break points.
On the other end of the court, a balanced offensive attack assisted in the result of the contest. Veteran Kiara Smith was the leader with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Zippy Broughton and de Oliveira each added 15 and Nina Rickards contributed 10. For the game, UF shot 27-of-62 (43.5%) from the floor and 6-of-18 (33.3%) from deep. The Gators assisted on 14 of their 27 makes.
On the glass, de Oliveira pulled down eight rebounds to lead Florida with Smith pulling down seven and Broughton five. The Orange & Blue held a slight edge over the visiting squad, controlling the boards, 35-33.
Arkansas was led by Samara Spencer with 19 points, three assists and two rebounds.
In control for a majority of the game, Florida’s victory came down to free throw shooting late in the game. Leading by as many as 19 points, the Gators’ lead was trimmed to nine points with 2:13 remaining in the game following a 12-2 run from the Razorbacks.
Despite being held without a field goal for the final 6:14 of the game, UF’s 7-of-8 free throw shooting over the final minute of the game would prove the difference-maker, concluding a stellar 16-of-18 (88.9%) performance from the charity stripe for the night, giving Florida a 76-67 win.
Offensively, it was a slow start for the Gators on Thursday evening. Florida started just 1-of-6, with the lone bucket coming off of a lob from Broughton to Dut. Both teams would play even in the early going of the game before threes from Alberte Rimdal and Smith on back-to-back possessions gave Florida a 10-7 lead with 5:42 remaining.
Arkansas would pull back to within one at 14-13 late in the period, but de Oliveira connected on a step-back jumper and Rickards drained a buzzer beater from the right wing to give the Gators an 18-13 lead despite shooting just 7-of-19 from the floor.
The Orange & Blue’s offense would take off in the second quarter, taking a 10-point lead just three minutes into the frame following a long-range jumper from de Oliveira. Continuing to put pressure on the Razorbacks, Broughton and Smith put together a five-point spurt to open up a 36-23 lead with 4:05 remaining in the half.
Six-consecutive points from Arkansas closed the gap to seven at the 1:46 mark, but the last seven points of the quarter would come from the Gators, including a triple from freshman Jeriah Warren with 25 seconds left, to give UF their biggest lead of the half at 43-28 going into the break.
A large part of Florida’s first half success came from their ability to limit attempts from behind the arc, holding Arkansas to just three attempts and one make. The Orange & Blue also forced a season-best 16 turnovers in the first half leading to an 11-0 advantage in fast break points.
The Gators wasted no time increasing their lead into the third quarter, pulling ahead by 17 after a 7-2 run less than three minutes into the quarter. A Smith jumper with 2:17 left would give Florida their biggest lead of the period at 59-41, and UF would see it’s lead at 18 twice more before heading into the final frame with a 63-46 lead.
Florida returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 20, when they head to Baton Rouge, La., to meet #11/12 LSU for the second time this season after defeating the Tigers at home, 73-72.
Quotables
Head Coach Kelly Rae Finley
On her thoughts about the game…
“I just was really pleased with our effort, as I always am. It’s incredible to coach a team that you never have to worry about our effort. I think that we played both sides of the ball very well tonight. I thought we got a little tight and that was probably due to me in the fourth quarter late, but Arkansas is a really talented team that has a tremendous ability to shoot the ball and so as long as there’s any time left on the clock, you got to be on it defensively and know that they can make a comeback. So you know I think that was a great growth game for us in terms of taking care of the ball, executing, and recognizing mis-matches.”
On individual contributions…
“I think Kiki Smith played one of her best overall floor games tonight. I thought Manu had one of her best floor games as well; eight rebounds, 15 points. But there’s so much more to the game than a stat sheet. I thought Brynn Farrell was outstanding on the bench. Her contributions despite her injuries have been tremendous for our team and I thought that really showed tonight.”
On the defensive effort…
“I don’t know, I think we’re pretty good, what do you think? I think you know we have a tremendous belief in ourselves. I think our team has a tremendous belief in each other and they trust that. You know in order to be a great defensive team you have to have a lot of trust. You have to trust that if I move and I get beat, then somebody’s going to be there to take my rotation and then scramble from there and I think that we’ve grown in that aspect. We were in a stance for about probably 36 minutes tonight, I don’t know a really long time, you know just in terms of how we moved and I thought we did an exceptionally good job.”
Senior Forward Emanuely de Oliveira
On the team coming together as a unit…
“You know the beginning of the season is always like that, new players, a new team, and then we had a new coach basically. So, you know we had to get used to it. There’s nothing much I can say, we just had to come together to do a good job.”
On how rewarding it is to be playing at a high-level…
“Honestly, that’s what we looked forward to since I got here, and you know it’s been great. Yes, I missed last year but I was really excited to come back. I had no idea where we could get, we never know but it’s been great and really fun.”
Postgame Bites
– UF has now won 20 games in a season for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign when they ended 22-9.
– It is the quickest the Florida has reached 20 wins in a season since starting 20-8 during the 2008-09 season.
– Florida has also reached 10 SEC victories for the first time since the 2015-16 season when they ended 10-6.
– Thursday’s win marks just the fourth time in program history that the Gators have won ten conference games.
– It’s the fastest to 10 wins in SEC for the Gators since also starting 10-3 during the 2000-01 season.
– The Orange & Blue now holds a 30-12 series lead over Arkansas.
– With a No. 17/21 ranking, that was Florida’s first win as a ranked team over Arkansas since Feb. 1, 2009 when they were ranked 12/15 and defeated the Razorbacks, 94-78 in Fayetteville.
– Kiara Smith’s 19 points move her to 14th in school history with 1,455 career points, passing Tonya Washington (1997-2000) with 1,448.
– #GoGators –
