Florida ends skid, defeats Arkansas in SEC tourney
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Florida ended its slump just in time to rescue its hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.
Keyontae Johnson scored a career-high 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds Thursday as No. 8 seed Florida snapped a three-game skid by defeating No. 9 seed Arkansas 66-50 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
“It was a must win to get there,” said Florida’s KeVaughn Allen, who scored 17 points. “We were thinking win or go home.”
Florida’s victory boosted its postseason profile, but the Gators (18-14) can make an even bigger statement Friday by upsetting No. 9 LSU (26-5) in the SEC quarterfinals.
LSU is the No. 1 seed in this tournament. Florida won 82-77 at LSU on Feb. 20 but lost to the Tigers 79-78 at home on March 6, with both those games requiring overtime.
“I feel like we still have more to go,” Johnson said. “We still have to get more big wins to prove our point.”
Florida took the lead for good with just over 18 minutes remaining and stayed ahead thanks to its defense. Arkansas (17-15) failed to make a basket in the game’s final 7 minutes, 54 seconds.
“I feel like we could have got anything that we wanted,” said Arkansas’ Daniel Gafford, who led the Razorbacks with 15 points. “We couldn’t execute. We shot ourselves in the foot down the stretch.”
Arkansas and Florida entered the tournament heading in opposite directions, though only the slumping Gators had a realistic shot at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. At the start of the day, Florida was 33rd and Arkansas 63rd in the NET rankings, which have replaced the RPI as a criterion for the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Arkansas had followed up a six-game losing streak by winning its last three regular-season contests to go back above .500. Florida had won five straight in late February before ending the regular season with three consecutive losses.