Florida, Arkansas aim to get on board in SEC play

Two teams seeking their first Southeastern Conference victory match up when Florida hosts Arkansas Saturday afternoon at Gainesville, Fla.

The Gators (10-5, 0-2 SEC) started league play with a loss at home to Kentucky and a setback at Ole Miss, while the Razorbacks (9-6, 0-2 SEC) have dropped a home game to Auburn and a road meeting with Georgia.

Each team was competitive in one defeat and routed in the other. The Gators led Kentucky 45-37 at halftime and were within 81-79 with 30 seconds left before losing 87-85.

Florida trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half of their 103-85 setback Wednesday at Ole Miss. The Rebels led only 44-40 at the break but shot 75 percent (21 of 28) from the field in the second half to outscore the Gators 59-45.

"Obviously, our defensive effort was atrocious, specifically in the second half," Gators coach Todd Golden said.

The Razorbacks were embarrassed in an 83-51 pounding by Auburn in their league opener last weekend but managed a late-game challenge before falling to Georgia on Wednesday. Down by 13 points in the first half, they closed to within 62-59 with 5:02 left in the game before fading in a 76-66 loss.

Poor shooting, especially from long distance where they were 3 of 21 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range, did in the Razorbacks.

"If you're a shooter, you've got to make open shots." Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said.

Both teams rely heavily on transfers.

Tramon Mark (Houston) leads Arkansas in scoring with a 17.0 average and Khalif Battle (Temple) and Keyon Menifield Jr. (Washington) are scoring 12.9 and 11.8, respectively.

Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona) leads the Gators in scoring with his 16.2 average followed by Zyon Pullin (UC Riverside) at 15.2 and Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall) at 13.3.

Samuel also has helped spur the Gators to a league-best 45.1 rebounds per game with his 8.3 average.

—Field Level Media