HawgBeat - Hogs play connected, Graham shines in win over Florida
Arkansas turned in a well-rounded performance, highlighted by 26 points from Jalen Graham, in an 84-65 win over Florida.
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Following back-to-back losses, the Arkansas Razorbacks (18-9, 7-7) needed a get-right game against the Florida Gators, and that is exactly what they got with an 84-65 victory inside Bud Walton Arena.
Behind a career-high 26 points from Jalen Graham and a plus-15 margin on the glass, the Hogs turned in an all-around great performance against Florida on Saturday.
"I think the flow offensively was really good," head coach Eric Musselman said. "I thought the defensive connectivity was really, really good tonight. There wasn't a lot of clean looks for Florida."
The Razorbacks' 116.6 offensive efficiency rating was their second best in a conference win this season and their defensive efficiency rating of 90.2 was their best since the Jan. 24 win over LSU.
All but two of the eight Arkansas players that saw action recorded at least a 100 offensive rating on KenPom for the Florida game. Graham earned a 148 and the "MVP" designation after he was 12-of-15 from the floor and 2-of-3 at the free throw line in the contest.
"When I first got in there, I just felt like I could score off the rip against both their bigs, especially when they put their smaller, littler guard," Graham said. "I was like, 'Yeah'. I just felt like I could get to my spots and rise up and just continue to be confident and just put the ball in the rim."
Graham's 27 minutes played were a season-high and he also brought down seven rebounds. Musselman mentioned that improving on the boards is the next step for Graham, who is already an elite scorer.
"We just need him to rebound, 'cause in this league every night the rebounding is so, so vital," Musselman said. "But he's done a great job working. I've been on him about the free throws pretty hard and I thought he did a good job tonight converting the ones he had."
Along with Graham working, the rest of the team is taking it on themselves to put in as much extra work as possible to get things figured out for a postseason run. Musselman mentioned that most of the team showed up to the facility early ahead of Saturday's game.
"An hour and a half is usually early," Musselman said. "I mean, we had guys well over two hours here early, and we met this morning at 9. So obviously the report time, you know, couldn't be here any later than 11:20 or whatever it was today, and then we had guys well before 11, I promise you."
The two losses to Mississippi State and Texas A&M definitely set the team back and overshadowed the return of freshman Nick Smith Jr., who scored 10 points and added two steals in nearly 32 minutes of action.
"We certainly felt with a basketball team and a program that does not go live and hasn't gone live because we want to be fresh in March," Musselman said. "So, it's hard for Nick to play three-on-three post-practice and get rhythm. So, really happy that he got the minutes that he got tonight. Happy how his teammates responded with him, and he gives us a little bit of an edge."
As of now, Arkansas has two Quad 1 road matchups at Alabama and Tennessee, a home Quad 2 matchup against Kentucky and a Quad 3 game against Georgia left on the schedule.
"The goal is to make it to the tournament," Graham said. "We needed this win. We got the win. There are four more games that we need to get wins in. We knew we needed this win and I’m happy we got it, but we’ve just got to keep going. We’ve got to get on a run like we did before we lost the two games. So that’s what we’re going to continue to do."
The next challenge will be against the Georgia Bulldogs (16-11, 6-8) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT inside Bud Walton Arena. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
