For nearly half of the Gators’ roster,
Monday’s matchup against No. 22 Arkansas was their first taste of
Southeastern Conference basketball.
So far, so good.
The Gators (11-4, 1-0 SEC) used a stingy
defense and a total team effort, led by Deana Allen’s 12 points off
the bench, to secure a 64-53 victory over previously undefeated
Arkansas (12-1, 0-1 SEC) on Monday in the O’Connell Center.
For the 14th time this season the Gators
outrebounded their opponent (45-38), and Arkansas coach Tom Collen
lauded their efforts afterward.
“We felt all along that the difference in the
game would be whether we could keep them off the boards,” Collen
said. “Give Florida
credit. You look back at the games that they’ve played and they
have lost to two top-25 teams by two points. If they beat those
teams — and both of those games were on those teams’ home courts —
they are ranked 20th in the country, so I think this is a pretty
good basketball team that we got beat by today.”
While rebounding was paramount, the Florida
defense may have been the real catalyst to victory.
The Gators forced 15 turnovers, grabbed nine
steals and held the Razorbacks to a season-low 31.7 shooting
percentage. Arkansas
missed its first four shots from the field helping Florida jump out
to an early 8-2 lead.
“We were really trying to set the tone coming
out of the gate and we did a really good job of that in the first
half,” coach Amanda Butler said.
The Gators spread the ball around, scoring in
a variety of ways, and built a 16-point halftime lead. Inside
players Ndidi Madu, Deaundra Young and Jennifer George combined for
20 of the Gators’ 38 first-half points.
But Arkansas began to claw its way back into
the game in the second half.
Twice they cut the deficit to single digits
inside five minutes to play and tried to press the inexperienced
Gators into mistakes.
But Florida was able to hold on – despite some
shaky shooting at the free throw line.
“I’m especially proud of the defensive effort,
because there is no question that that is what sustained it,”
Butler said. “We had some blips with some missed layups, some
missed free throws and some key offensive plays, but our defense
sustained us during those times.”
Allen’s 12 points led all scorers while Madu
and George both finished with 10 and guards Lanita Bartley and
Jaterra Bonds each added 9 points. The same group
accounted for 29 of the Gators’ 45 rebounds.
Allen became the eighth different player to
lead Florida in scoring this season.
“I am especially proud of the win and starting
the SEC season this way,” Butler said. “This win was really
important for our confidence, but also we wanted to send that
message that this is a tough place to play.”
Winning at home hasn’t been a problem. The
Gators are 8-0 in the comfort of the O’Connell Center, but now must
go on the road to face Auburn and try to secure their first true
road win of the season.
