No. 23 Florida confident heading into Arkansas rematch (Mar 09, 2018)
Florida enters Friday's quarterfinal matchup of the SEC Tournament with Arkansas riding a three-game winning streak and looking prepared for an NCAA Tournament berth that was not always assured during the regular season.
The No. 23 Gators (20-11) became ranked after Saturday's 80-67 upset of then-No. 23 Kentucky.
Arkansas (22-10) defeated South Carolina 69-64 in a second-round game Wednesday to set up the matchup with Florida. The Gators beat the Razorbacks at home 88-73 in the previous meeting Jan. 17.
"Where's the confidence, (on a scale of) 1-10, I'd say it's pretty high. I don't want to put a number on it. But we feel really good right now," Florida guard Jalen Hudson said. "We're definitely in a groove. I think we've got a good thing going right now."
The Gators are a far cry from when they recently lost five out of seven games.
Said point guard Chris Chiozza, a first-team All-SEC selection: "We are as confident as we've been all season, going back to the beginning. It's going to be fun to see what happens."
Chiozza holds the Florida career assist record of 551, breaking the previous mark of 547 by Erving Walker from 2008-12.
Florida turned the corner after a 62-57 loss at SEC regular-season co-champion Tennessee on Feb. 21, the end of the rough stretch. The Gators have won three games since -- all impressive victories over co-champion Auburn, at Alabama and against Kentucky.
They beat the Crimson Tide by 21 points before dominating Kentucky. The Gators led the Wildcats by as many as 23 points in the second half.
"We're playing our best basketball that we've played this season, it's the most consistency we've seen," Florida coach Mike White said. "This team is hard to forecast. We've had inconsistencies, we have, but I want to give my guys credit, we've gotten a lot more consistent, we've gotten a lot tougher.
"We are so much better defensively than we were a few months ago despite some adversities. So yeah, I'm very pleased with where we are, but we hope that there's a lot of basketball left for us. We've got to get rest and we've got to be prepared to get better this week."
Hudson has scored 19, 27 and 22 points in the last three games. KeVaughn Allen, who had 24 points against Auburn, is making significant shots. He also had seven rebounds and seven assists Saturday against Kentucky.
Versatile 6-foot-5 guard Egor Koulechov (16 points vs. Kentucky) has at times guarded the opposing post players and forward Keith Stone (10 points and six rebounds against Kentucky) has been a pivotal role player.
"This is the most efficient we've been," White said. "It's coming together for us. Now obviously it's about maintaining and improving and not about feeling good about how we've been playing."
Arkansas was led Thursday by guard Jaylen Barford's 17 points. Guard Daryl Macon was the only other double-figure scorer with 12 points.
The Razorbacks, who shot 42.9 percent from the field, benefitted from a 23-of-26 performance at the free throw line and forcing the Gamecocks into 19 turnovers.
"I have the ultimate confidence in my team," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said after the win. "I wanted to see if they are ready to handle adversity. Going forward, they are going to see a lot of that."
