By: Jax Crall
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – After a 99-84 victory Wednesday night against the Texas A&M Aggies, the No. 17 Arkansas Men’s Basketball team will hit the road to face No. 7 Florida Gators on Saturday, Feb. 28. With three games left in the regular season, this game could have a significant impact in determining the winner of the SEC basketball regular-season title.
In Wednesday evening’s postgame press conference, Arkansas Head Coach John Calipari said he realizes this weekend’s matchup won’t be easy.
“It’s a tough game, it’s GameDay down in Florida,” Calipari said. “They’re the best team in our league right now and we gotta go on the road.”
This will be the Razorbacks’ (21-7, 11-4 SEC) first time playing the Gators (22-6, 13-2) this season. If Florida wins this game, the team would clinch a share of the SEC Championship.
Currently, the Razorbacks sit two games behind the Gators in the SEC standings. After Saturday’s game, Arkansas will conclude the regular season against the Texas Longhorns at Bud Walton Arena and the Missouri Tigers on the road.
Something big to watch out for this weekend is sophomore guard Boogie Fland for the Gators. Fland was an incoming five-star freshman that played for the Hogs last season. After Arkansas’ loss in the Sweet 16 against Texas Tech, Boogie Fland entered his name into the NBA Draft and then transferred to Florida. Although coach Calipari verbally said he would welcome Fland back to the team, it did not make sense with D.J. Wagner, Darius Acuff Jr. Maleek Thomas also planning to play for the Hogs. Fland currently averages 29.9 minutes, 11.5 points and 3.4 assists for the Gators.
Wednesday night, coach Calipari also talked about the preparation the team will go through for the match-up this weekend.
“We got two days, so we cannot practice tomorrow,” Calipari said. “Guess what? We cannot practice Friday, so we’re gonna do tape work and walk-through some stuff to show them, let’s throw it up and see where we are.”
Arkansas is on a two game winning streak going 8-2 in its last 10 games. On the other side, Florida has won nine in a row and is 9-1 in its last 10 games.
ESPN’s College GameDay covered by State Farm will start at 9 a.m. CT on ESPN with the match-up itself beginning at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN as well.