Florida 71, Arkansas 54
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Senior Mike Rosario scored 15 points, lifting No. 5 Florida to a 71-54 win over Arkansas on Saturday night at the O'Connell Center.
Patric Young added 14 points for the Gators on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Kenny Boynton and Erik Murphy each had 12 points.
Florida (22-4, 12-2 SEC) avenged an 80-69 loss at Arkansas on Feb. 4.
Coty Clarke led Arkansas (17-10, 8-6 SEC) with 18 points. Freshman Anthlon Bell added 14 points off the bench for the Razorbacks.
Up 32-28 at the half, the Gators started the second half with an 11-1 run and mantained a double-digit lead the rest of way.
Florida pressured Arkansas into 36.2 percent shooting from the floor. The Gators held an opponent below 60 points for the 19th time this season.
Arkansas stayed in the game early before junior forward Marhsawn Powell got into foul trouble. Powell scored seven of Arkansas' first eight points but picked up his second foul with 10:45 remaining in the first half. Both were charges into Florida junior forward Casey Prather.
With Powell out, the Gators were able to effectively attack the rim. Up 14-13, Florida went on a 9-0 run that included a Rosario 3-pointer, a Prather putback dunk and two driving baskets from Boynton.
An inside hook shot from Young put Florida up 25-15, but Arkansas answered with a 6-0 run, cutting Florida's lead to 25-21 on an inside layup by Clarke.
Murphy ended the run with a 3-pointer, putting Florida back up 28-21. A driving basket by Boynton boosted Florida's margin to 30-23, but Arkansas closed the half with a 5-2 run. A 3-pointer from Bell and a putback from Jacorey Williams cut into Florida's lead at halftime.
The Gators shot just 40.6 percent from the field and 30.8 percent (4 of 13) from 3-point range in the first half. But Florida outscored Arkansas 18-10 in the paint and had nine points off nine first-half Arkansas turnovers.
NOTE: Florida junior forward Will Yeguete shot jumpers during pregame warm-ups. Yeguete is still rehabilitating from surgery Feb. 8 to remove bone chips in a knee. Florida coach Billy Donovan has not ruled out Yeguete returning before the end of the regular season.
