Monk’s 23 points not enough in 65-51 loss to Florida
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior Malica Monk had a Herculean effort, but a cold third quarter sunk the Razorbacks as they fell to Florida 65-51 in Southeastern Conference action in Bud Walton Arena on Thursday.
Florida went on runs of 9-0, 7-0 and 10-0 to start each of the respective quarters and Arkansas struggled to come from behind. A renewed effort in the fourth quarter helped Arkansas cut the lead to nine but that would be as close as the Razorbacks would get.
Monk scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds to pace Arkansas (11-8, 2-4 SEC) but the Gators (9-10, 1-5 SEC) dominated the third period, 18-7, for the win. Seven third period points ties the school record for fewest points in the third stanza.
The Gators lead the SEC in 3-point field goals per game and lived up to the billing hitting seven shots from beyond the arc. In addition, Florida’s size in the paint hurt Arkansas as the Razorbacks gave up 36 points inside and allowed 54 rebounds in the game.
Notes
• Malica Monk scored 20+ points eight times in her career — all this season.
• Malica Monk’s eight rebounds was one shy of tying her career high.
• Arkansas used just the third different starting lineup of the year with junior transfer Raven Northcross-Baker starting for an injured Devin Cosper.
• Arkansas was perfect from the line, but it was a season-low 4-for-4 effort.
• The Razorbacks forced 14 Florida turnovers and committed just eight in the game.
Up Next
The Razorbacks play their next two games on the road traveling to No. 11 Missouri on Sunday and facing No. 10 South Carolina in the Gamecocks’ home gym on Thursday.
Story from Razorback Sports Communications
Newbauer on Gators’ win over Hogs on Thursday night
Florida coach Cameron Newbury talked with the media following the Gators breaking out of a slump by beating Arkansas.
Mike’s seat not hot, but it is starting to smolder
You’re not going to hear from this corner that Mike Anderson has a problem.
At least yet.
It’s college basketball and having a 2-4 record in the SEC isn’t cause for a full-blown fire alarm. With 12 conference games (plus an out-of-conference matchup with Oklahoma State), there’s plenty of time to put out the smoldering ashes.
But Arkansas does have to go 7-5 down the stretch just to get to .500.
And nobody knows if that’s enough to make life comfortable for Anderson. That still wouldn’t give him 20 wins on a season that most were expecting to be much better than that.
Yes, things have gotten to that point.
Losing to Florida on Wednesday night wouldn’t be that big of a deal except the Gators came in struggling offensively, without much support down low and Arkansas had hopes.
That was until KeVaughn Allen, the Little Rock native, suddenly found his shooting touch against his home state team he spurned a few years ago.
In a strange way, you had to figure that would be what would happen. He was the Gators’ leading scorer last year and hadn’t hit double figures this season.
Allen scored 28 points, easily his highest output of the season. Florida students held up large pieces of paper spelling out “shooters shoot” to remind Allen he needed to be aggressive.
“I saw that,” Allen said later. “It was funny to me.”
Arkansas didn’t appear too surprised.
“He came out locked in to shoot the ball,” said Razorbacks guard Jaylen Barford, who scored a team-high 28 points. “He was just scoring left and right.”
Afterwards, Anderson remained calm and analytical, which is usually the way he is regardless of how big the game is or what the outcome is.
“That was not good defense,” Anderson said. “KeVaughn shot lights out. Jalen Hudson shot lights out. And the rest was history.”
Unfortunately that has been the history for this team too often in the past three weeks.
And it won’t get any easier.
Ole Miss comes in Saturday afternoon and they’ve won in Fayetteville before.
Bit now the Hogs will be playing a little short-handed more than likely.
Trey Thompson went down in the first half with a hamstring injury and Anton Beard left with a gruesome-looking ankle injury also went out early.
Those are two key players.
Now Anderson has to find an answer for that and figure out some way to get a win without those two key players. No one has officially ruled them out, but expecting either of them to be ready in three days might be too much for even the most optimistic.
Somehow, Anderson’s going to have to figure out a way to get some wins … quickly.
Or that smoldering may turn into a small blaze.
With at least a couple of prominent boosters already beginning a push to try and lure Texas Tech coach Chris Beard to Fayetteville now is the time Anderson needs to stop the fire from growing.
Which will require some wins.
And, as we said, quickly.
Florida’s hot shooting too much for Hogs in 88-73 loss
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arkansas was unable to overcome an early deficit Wednesday night in Gainesville, falling on the road, 88-73, to Florida.
At the first media timeout of the evening, all five of the Razorbacks’ starters were in the scoring column. Down 7-2, Arkansas hit three consecutive 3-point attempts to take its first lead at 11-10.
Following the media break, Florida went on a 28-10 run to take its largest lead of the game to that point at 18.
The Hogs trailed 48-33 at halftime, as Florida out-shot Arkansas 55.6-41.9 percent from the field in the first period. The Razorbacks struggled to get any production from their bench, as Florida outscored Arkansas 17-4 off the bench in the opening frame.
A bright spot for Arkansas was guard Jaylen Barford’s shooting. The senior went 4-of-6 from the field, hitting three from deep, in the first period. However, he was in foul trouble, earning three before half.
Arkansas opened the second half on a quick 5-0 run to cut the Florida lead to 10, after Barford started the the half with a three from the top of the key and freshman Daniel Gafford hit a short hook shot.
Arkansas and Florida traded shots for the next seven-plus minutes, before Barford hit a layup and sophomore guard C.J. Jones stepped into a 3 to cut the Florida lead to nine at 62-53.
That was as close as Arkansas would get, as the Gators went on a 20-8 run following Jones’ three to take their largest lead of the game at 82-61.
Barford led all scorers, recording his seventh 20-point effort of the season, tying a career high with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, going 5-of-6 from behind the arc.
Barford also recorded four assists. Barford has 12 career 20-point efforts, including nine coming away from home.
Gafford posted 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and the only one recorded ever by a current Razorback.
Senior guard Daryl Macon finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Arkansas returns home Saturday to host the Ole Miss Rebels at 2:30 p.m. in front of a sold-out crowd in Bud Walton Arena.
Hatfield named to College Football Playoff Committee
IRVING, Texas — Former Arkansas player and coach Ken Hatfield has been named to the 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee, CFP executive director Bill Hancock announced on Wednesday.
Hatfield is one of six new members and will serve a three-year term on the committee, which is responsible for selecting the top four teams in the playoff and assigning them to semifinal games as well as placing the next group of teams in the remaining New Year’s bowls.
The committee meets in-person beginning late in the football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week, leading up to its final selections.
In six years as a head coach, Hatfield posted an Arkansas-record .760 winning percentage and averaged more than nine wins per year from 1984-89.
He led the Razorbacks to a bowl game all six seasons, including two Cotton bowls, two Liberty bowls, the Holiday and the Orange.
He coached the Razorbacks to Southwest Conference championships in 1988 and 1989, and final rankings of No. 12 in 1985, No. 15 in 1986, No. 12 in 1988 and No. 13 in 1989.
On the field as a halfback, he earned first-team All-SWC honors in 1964.
His 81-yard punt return for a touchdown keyed the 14-13 victory at No. 1 Texas as Arkansas went 11-0 in 1964 and won the national championship following a 10-7 victory over No. 6 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
Hatfield led the nation in punt returns in 1963 and 1964, averaging 16.7 yards per return each season. He also led the SWC in 1962. In 1962 and 1963, he led the Hogs in interceptions.
In 1962, he led the team in passes broken up, and as a kickoff returner, he led the club in 1962 and 1964.
His 16.01 career punt return average is a school record while his 1,604 total return yards rank second in school history and ranked first until 2004.
His 1,153 career punt return yards rank first at Arkansas and his 518 punt return yards in 1964 is a season record.
About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 seed vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.
This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 29, 2018, at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and Capital One Orange Bowl.
The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 7, 2019, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Saturday’s game with Ole Miss officially a sellout
FAYETTEVILLE — Saturday’s game against Ole Miss is officially sold out, marking the fourth consecutive Saturday home contest Arkansas has announced as a sellout.
Arkansas fans can stretch that streak to five games against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Feb. 10, the only remaining Saturday home game with tickets still available.
Fewer than 50 tickets remain for the first mid-week sellout of the year as the Super Tuesday matchup against Kentucky on Feb. 20 would be the seventh sellout of the season.
Remaining Home Games with Available Tickets
• South Carolina (Tuesday, Feb. 6)
• Vanderbilt (Saturday, Feb. 10)
• Kentucky (Tuesday, Feb. 20)
• Auburn (Tuesday, Feb. 27)
Arkansas is back in action this evening, traveling to Gainesville, Florida, for a 6 p.m. tip-off against the Gators on ESPN2.










