No. 20 Arkansas faces tall task against SEC favorite No. 7 Florida
Streaking No. 7 Florida seeks to clinch at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title when the Gators meet No. 20 Arkansas on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
Arkansas coach John Calipari knows what the Razorbacks are in for.
"They're the best team in our league right now, and we have to go on the road," Calipari said. "We cannot practice (Thursday) and, guess what, we cannot practice Friday. We're going to do some tape work, walk through some stuff.
"Let's throw it up and see where we are."
The defending national champion Gators (22-6, 13-2 SEC) have won eight straight since a 76-67 home loss to Auburn on Jan. 24, beating then-No. 23 Alabama and then-No. 25 Kentucky in that run.
Florida is two games ahead of Arkansas and Alabama (both 21-7, 11-4) with three to play and already has clinched one of four double-byes in the SEC tournament. Arkansas can clinch at least a tie for a top-four spot with a win.
"It's a great opportunity in front of us," said Florida coach Todd Golden, adding that he is aware of the extra hype that the presence of the ESPN GameDay crew could create on Saturday.
"It's a huge game. We're going to really have to lock in mentally and keep our composure and not get emotional."
The Gators beat Texas 84-71 in Austin on Wednesday and have won seven of their last eight by double figures. They trailed by three before closing on a 23-7 run to beat the Longhorns.
Former Razorback guard Boogie Fland scored 11 of his 22 points in that stretch, and Alex Condon had five of his 23.
"It's what our team does," Golden said. "We wear teams down."
Fland averaged 13.5 points and 5.1 assists in 21 games for the Razorbacks last season. He missed two months of the season because of a torn ligament in his right thumb before returning for the NCAA Tournament. He has put up 11.5 points and 3.4 assists per game for Florida.
This matchup features the best frontline in the SEC against the best perimeter group.
The 6-foot-11 Condon, 6-9 Thomas Haugh and 6-10 Ruben Chinyelu are averaging a combined 42.5 points and 25.3 rebounds. Florida leads Division I in rebound margin at plus-14.1, and Chinyelu (11.5 per game) is third among players.
Freshman guards Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas and sophomore wing Billy Richmond III are the leading threats on an Arkansas team that is averaging 90.3 points per game, fourth in Division I.
Acuff, the SEC Freshman of the Week a conference-record eight times, recovered from 1-for-10 first-half shooting to score 17 of his 22 points in the final nine minutes of a 99-84 win over Texas A&M.
"At the end of the game, he has the chutzpah to say, ‘I'm going to win this,'" Calipari said.
"I'm not trying to put more on the kid, but why isn't he in the equation for player of the year? He's doing things in the guts of games."
Acuff averages 22.2 points and 6.2 assists, the only player in Division I to reach both plateaus. He is also the only player averaging at least 16 points with an assist/turnover ratio better than 3:1.
Thomas (15.2 points) and Acuff are the top scoring freshman pair in the country, and Richmond has scored at least 20 points in four straight games after not scoring more than 16 in his first 60 games.