Will Yeguete’s night in Fayetteville, Ark., lasted less than a minute.
During No. 2 Florida’s 80-69 loss to Arkansas on Tuesday, Yeguete checked into the game with 16:44 remaining in the first half but limped to the bench at the 15:52 mark after experiencing discomfort caused by tendinitis in his right knee. The injury has been a season-long issue for the junior forward.
Yeguete was re-evaluated by the team’s training staff at halftime and ruled out for the remainder of the contest.
Coach Billy Donovan said after the game that Yeguete would undergo an MRI on Wednesday to determine the extent of the injury. Donovan will address the results this afternoon.
“I don’t know what it is,” Donovan said. “He’s been dealing with some swelling now for a few weeks. He’s been very, very limited in practice the last couple of weeks. … He said he felt like he tweaked his knee.”
The Razorbacks took advantage of Yeguete’s absence, shooting 51.3 percent on two-pointers and 44.4 percent from three-point range.
The Gators (18-3, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) were thin in the frontcourt Tuesday night with Yeguete out and Patric Young dealing with foul trouble.
Young committed two fouls in the first 6:31 and was benched for about 7 minutes. He fouled out with 3:41 left.
In 26 minutes, Young scored nine points but grabbed only four boards.
“We were in a bind the whole first half,” Donovan said. “I generally don’t play a guy with two fouls, but because of our frontcourt depth and fatigue, I had to sub (Erik) Murphy some. We were probably pretty fortunate to get out of the half with Patric only having two fouls.”
Playing without its top two rebounders in Young (6.6 rebounds per game) and Yeguete (6.3 rebounds per game) for much of the first half, Florida was outrebounded 20-14 in the first 20 minutes. Arkansas had nine players log more than 13 minutes and led 43-26 at halftime.
“The type of style we play is hard to play against, especially if you’re playing six to seven to eight guys,” Razorbacks forward Marshawn Powell said.
With a shortage of frontcourt depth, Florida’s inside-out game was hurting and its three-point attempts were often contested. After entering the game shooting 51.2 percent from outside, Murphy scored nine points on 2-of-7 shooting, hitting only 1 of 6 three-pointers.
Florida became reliant on three-pointers, heaving 27 of its 56 shots from behind the arc and making 10.
“A lot of what they want to do is penetrate and get it out to the three-point shooters,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “A key is not letting Murphy get off. He’s a tough matchup for a lot of people. But for us, I thought we did a good job of finding him.”
Working his way back from a high left ankle sprain, Casey Prather also struggled. In 18 minutes, the 6-foot-6 forward recorded two turnovers and committed four fouls without scoring a point.
Arkansas’ bench outscored Florida’s reserves 40-12. The Razorbacks’ frontcourt scored 35 points, while the Gators’ big men managed only 19.
“We were a short-manned team, but we didn’t play through the things that were necessary to win the game,” Donovan said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries and guys being in and out of games. ... You’ve got to be resilient.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Junior forward Will Yeguete attempts a layup during Florida’s 78-64 win against Ole Miss on Saturday in the O’Connell Center.
