Arkansas Drops SEC Opener To No. 25 Florida

Box Score | Highlights | Anderson Interview

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s basketball team dropped its SEC opener Thursday evening, falling 81-72 to No. 25 Florida inside Bud Walton Arena.

In the opening period, Florida (10-3, 1-0) had an answer for every Arkansas basket. The Razorbacks (11-2, 0-1) led by as many as three points in the opening period before the Gators took a 44-35 lead into the break.

Daryl Macon lead the Razorbacks in the first half, scoring nine of Arkansas’ first 12 points and sinking his first three shots from behind the arc in less than 90 seconds. Moses Kingsley was all over the boards in the opening frame, pulling down seven first-half rebounds.

Arkansas opened the second half on a 7-1 run to cut the deficit to three, but the Razorbacks were unable to fight off the Gators. Florida built a 16 point lead late in the second half and Arkansas could not recover.

Macon finished with a game-high 22 points, his second 20-point effort of the season, to make it six straight games scoring in double figures. The Little Rock native also recorded four rebounds.

The Southeastern Conference’s active leader in double-doubles, Kingsley recorded his third of the season and 20th of his career with a 13-point, 14-rebound effort. The big man also had four swats to extend his streak to 43 of the last 46 games with a blocked shot, including multiple blocks in nine contests this season.

The Razorbacks continue to get production from the bench as Arkansas has recorded 20-plus bench points in nine straight games, after a 20-point performance against the Gators. Arkansas has yet to trail in bench points in that nine-game stretch.

Anton Beard led all scorers off the bench with a 10-point performance, scoring in double figures in three straight contests.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
“Well it wasn’t our day, you can say that Florida had a lot to do with that. I thought they played with a great sense of urgency, I thought their defense was good at times and we had an opportunity to make some runs and we did some things to shoot ourselves in the foot.” – head coach Mike Anderson

UP NEXT
Arkansas will go on the road for its next two game, traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee, to face the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. CT. The Razorbacks will conclude their two game road trip in Lexington, taking on No. 8 Kentucky on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. CT.

TICKETS
Mini plans, mobile passes and single-game tickets for the 2016-17 season are available now at the Razorback Ticket Center by calling at 1-800-982-HOGS (4647) and online by clicking here.

For more information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.