For the second time this season, Arkansas is going to face a streaking Florida team.
The last time the two teams met, Florida was on an eight-game winning streak and fresh off a victory at then-No. 6 Kentucky. The Razorbacks were 14-1 at the time and had just beaten Missouri in Columbia, Mo.
On Jan. 9, the Gators and the Razorbacks squared off in the O’Connell Center, with Florida muscling its way to a 59-52 win.
Forty-six of the Razorbacks’ 52 points came off the hands of freshmen McKenzie Adams and Jessica Jackson, while senior Jaterra Bonds led the way for the Gators, scoring a team-high 15 points.
Florida hopes Thursday night in Fayetteville, Ark., will yield similar results.
The Gators head to Arkansas on a three-game winning streak, while the Razorbacks find themselves on a three-game skid.
Florida should be wary of Arkansas, as the Gators went through a three-game losing streak before busting it against Auburn at home.
“It’s very hard to do,” coach Amanda Butler said of bouncing back from a losing streak.
“One of the things I’m really proud of our team about when we lost three games was they just kept the right perspective. A lot of times, I think that gets lost in our league.”
The Southeastern Conference boasts the highest RPI in the country and includes six ranked teams, including No. 6 South Carolina and No. 8 Tennessee.
“We lost three games in a row, but we lost to Georgia, at No. 12 (LSU) in the country and at No. 11 (Tennessee) in the country. Our league is very, very challenging. I think our team wasn’t satisfied at all and didn’t make that as an excuse, that they lost to good teams. At the same time, they didn’t hang their heads and did a great job of showing that resilient spirit that they’ve displayed all year long.”
One such player that’s personified the “resilient spirit” of which Butler speaks is senior Lily Svete.
After trudging through conference play with dismal numbers, Svete was removed from her starting role in favor of freshman Ronni Williams.
Since coming off the bench, however, Svete has flourished.
“When you’re a great shooter like Lily,” Butler said, “and you’re missing but you know that next one’s going to fall, its very rewarding – almost a rush of confidence.”
Svete has embraced her role of coming off the bench and sniping three-pointers when needed.
“When Lily and I talked about it, we just said, ‘Hey, let’s try this and see if it changes the way that you are being effective in the ballgame,’” Butler said. “She was all for it.”
In Florida’s current three-game streak, Svete has averaged 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. On the season, she’s averaged 6.3 points and three rebounds per contest.
“She said, ‘Can I tell Ronni that she’s going to be the one starting,’” Butler said. “I said, ‘Of course.’ I don’t think that happens very often on teams where one player is not going to be starting any longer, and she’s excited to tell her teammate who is going to have that opportunity.”
Follow Gordon Streisand on Twitter @GordonStreisand
