OGT-Arkansas @ Florida Feb 22 (Tue) 7 PM ESPN2

No one is saying to crap on the team. You get annoyed that people are frustrated and express it. My expectation is to be a top 25 team more often than not. We have not come close to that expectation under White. We just have to be quiet?

 

This is not a good rebounding team. No way to sugar coat that. We get almost no rebounding out of the 4 spot generally, Castleton has had a few games where he’s gone beast mode rebounding but with his narrow frame he doesn’t dominate the paint and sometimes gives up offensive tip outs and loose balls more than some truly dominant guys, although obviously he is our strength (not knocking him). There just isn’t enough around him to help out.

 

Rebounding is the number one issue. Offense is number two.

 

BTW, Arkansas hadn’t won in the O’Dome since 1995. Give White enough time and EVERY SEC team will beat us at home. Our famed home court advantage is now in the dust. For that we have Mike White to thank.

 

Arkansas was bad for a very long time and we were good for just as long. That's literally the entire Billy D era and partially into Mike White.

 

1a and 1b

Our guards looked like we had mid-major guards out there. Boys against men, with sloppy dribbling. Appleby had a decent scoring game (which played a role in keeping it a close game), but it also looked sloppy and unsettled. At crunch time, that mattered in this one (it almost bit us in the last minutes vs. Auburn as well).

 

Never said it was. I'm just talking about the dregs that only emerge into the light after a loss. Tired of those folks that are invested more in being right than being gators.

 

If only our guards were 6’4”. It seems like they can’t create when we need them to and we are left with App launching prayer 3s.

 

Mike White apologists always have excuses ready.

 

I just want us to be a good program. A top 25 program. A program that is ranked more often than not, gets a reasonable seed more often than not, and can make a run every so often. These are not lofty goals.

I would love for White to take us there. But I would certainly bet that he is incapable of being that guy. I never root for us to lose, but I can certainly see the argument that a loss is far better for the long term health of the program

 

Ill never understand the logic of dribble drive offense, but least of all when none of your guards are above average ball handlers… on the whole I would say the dribbling of our guards is abysmal. Always seems on edge of a turnover. We spend so much time dribbling it around without making any progress, and probably kick it off the foot or drive it into no-man’s land more than just about anyone in CBB. There just isn’t that sharp focus on offense.

This year has featured more airballs and hideous bricks than I can remember in 25 years. It’s actually amazing our record isn’t even worse, it probably deserves to be based on the “eyeball test”. Castleton is a really good player though. When Donovan had his few down years, it was because we had literally nothing in the paint those seasons. Not a guy capable of 20 and 10 on any given night.

 

Arkansas just outperformed our defense. They took care of the ball, shot well from the FT line, and were pretty efficient from 3 as well.

 

You dont watch - why are you here after a loss? I know one thing - you slither back into your hole if gators beat UK - just like you did after Auburn win. Here you are bitching as always after a loss - not about anything in particular about the game but your butthurt longing for the Donavan years. The only thing folks like you accomplish is keeping gator fans off this board or folks like me blocking you.

 

Perfect post.
Put it on repeat.

 

To me this was the biggest coaching disparity I've seen all season. Arkansas to me is so much crisper, better organized and more sound. I didn't see lack of effort from Florida as an issue and talent while definitely a disparity, to me isn't the main reason Florida lost. I mean imo if you switch coaches tonight than Florida wins. How many 2nd chance opportunities did Arkansas have and Felder who to me clearly looks like the 2nd best rebounder on the team is nowhere to be found. White just can't help himself to play a guard heavy lineup and Duruji is just an average defensive rebounder.

I'm not trying to kill Mike White here, but imo Mussleman is a much much better coach. There in lies the problem now with Florida. Mike White is a middle of the pack SEC coach.

Maybe they pull a miracle vs UK but I just can't see it. I feel bad for CC as he deserves better but this product in year 7 just isn't good enough. In fact, this is probably White's worst team since year 1. Something has to change and I think it's obvious to most fans, the question is does SS see it. I hope so before other SEC teams get new coaches and TX and Oklahoma knock Florida back further.

 

Is it just me or do we have an abnormally high count of players who jump at a pump fake at the 3 point line, jumping right past the shooter, leaving him wide open for a 3? Every game I see pretty much every defender at the 3 point line not just leave their feet but leap way out of the shooters path giving them a wide open look. Like every time. It must be taught.

 

I watched the game on delay and kept my eye on individual players- esp on the defense. I did a lot of rewinding.
Agree w/ Jared above that Felder really made a difference when he came in.
Duruji was about the opposite.

CC is just a warrior. He's our Dameon Pierce- a great player on a bad team.

 

Arkansas vs. Florida - Box Score - February 22, 2022 - ESPN

From looking at the game stats, Duruji had a solid game (8 points, 5 reb) and had out-performed Arkansas' starting forward & their back-up by a large margin: Both Wade & Johnson had zero points and zero rebounds. One could say that it was actually Arkansas that had minimal contribution from their 4 position.

However, It was Arkansas's wings who had collectively & significantly outplayed Florida's wings as a group: 67 points to 37 points.
Arkansas guards out rebounded Florida's guards 22 to 14 rebounds which was the difference in the game and thus, allowed the razorbacks to get off more shot attempts as compared to the gators attempts (29/63 vs 25/58):
Umede - 11 pts/6 reb,
Toney - 12 pts/4 reb,
Notate - 22pts/6 reb, and
Davis - 19 pts/6 reb
Lykes - 3 pts

Appleby - 19 pts/1reb,
Fleming - 9 pts/8 reb/3A,
Jones - 0 pts/2 reb/5A,
McKassic - 7 pts/3 reb
Lane - 2 pts
Reeves - 0 pts


Even Colin Castleton's outstanding game (29 pts, 6 reb) was not enough as Ark's Jaylin Williams countered with 15 pts, 10 reb, 3A effort. I did think that the refs mistakenly called two of Castleton's blocks as a foul; those affected the game's momentum and for Florida to possibly build up a bigger lead and maybe better withstand Arkansas's efforts in the game.
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Both Arkansas' and Florida's rosters were similarly built. Musselman, like Mike White, had built this Arkansas team with largely mid-major transfers, also. They both often play a 4-guard offense.

In this case, Florida just lost to a hot Arkansas team. Arkansas had just more contributers on offense than what Florida had. Many teams are now taking Jones out of the equation and Reeves did not do too much either in this game.

 

As of right now, Arkansas had the 2nd best recruiting class in the country coming in next year. As for the offenses, Arkansas’ offense was creating tons of easy shots. Our offense doesn’t do that as a general rule. Out guys made a bunch of high degree of difficulty shots to stay in the game. We can’t rely on that happening to win multiple games in a row.