FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said he doesn't believe a home loss to South Carolina sapped the confidence the Razorbacks built the previous two weeks during a four-game winning streak.
Anderson said the Razorbacks (16-15) should still be feeling positive vibes going into their SEC Tournament opener against Florida (18-13) at noon Thursday in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Arkansas beat Missouri and LSU at home and won at Tennessee for the first time since 2006 and at Alabama for the first time since 2007 before South Carolina left Walton Arena with a 76-61 victory last Saturday.
"I really do think we're playing well," Anderson said Monday. "That's what I made sure to remind our guys.
"South Carolina came in and they were the better team that day, but when you look at what has taken place in the last few ballgames, we've had a nice rhythm. Our bench has played well. The guys starting out the game have played well.
"We've been able to mix and match our defenses to keep people off balance. We've got to get back to doing that."
Arkansas lost to Auburn 90-86 at home, then the Razorbacks held their next four opponents to an average of 65.8 points and 39.1 percent shooting -- including 26.7 percent on three-point attempts -- during the season-best winning streak.
"What we did in those four games that we won, we've got to keep doing that," Arkansas junior center Moses Kingsley said. "We're going to be fine if we do that."
South Carolina led Arkansas by 27 points with 15 minutes left before the Razorbacks turned up their defensive intensity, began scoring in transition and three times pulled as close as nine points.
"If we can take the last 12 or 13 minutes of this game to the SEC Tournament, we'll be fine," Arkansas senior guard Jabril Durham said after the South Carolina loss.
Anderson said the Razorbacks can't wait around before deciding to play their best against Florida.
"We've got to play with a sense of urgency from the start to the middle to the finish," he said. "I really believe that energy is so important at this time of year.
"You've got to have guys that bring that energy, bring that toughness, bring that physicality in a game of this nature. Florida is playing for something and we're playing for something."
Florida likely needs to win at least two or three games this week to have a shot at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid after going 1-4 to close the regular season. The Gators stopped their losing streak at four games with an 82-72 victory at Missouri.
"We needed that," Florida sophomore guard Chris Chiozza told reporters in Gainesville, Fla., Monday. "Even though they were the worst team in the league, anytime you're playing in the SEC, especially on the road, every game is going be hard.
"After the game, we felt great, like we just beat a top team in the conference."
Before beating Missouri the Gators had lost at South Carolina in overtime, to Vanderbilt at home, at LSU and to Kentucky at home.
Kentucky shared the regular-season championship with Texas A&M and is a lock for the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina and Vanderbilt likely are in the NCAA Tournament, too.
"I don't think we need to apologize to anybody," Florida Coach Mike White said of the losing streak. "It's a hard league.
"We're not an overpowering team, but we were competitive against those four."
White said the Gators have to focus on Arkansas and can't be distracted thinking abut what they need to do this week to get in the NCAA Tournament.
"There's a bunch of stuff out there for our guys to listen to and read, but at this point if we're not putting ourselves in position to be competitive against the Hogs, then we're at fault," White said. "It's a one-game season for us right now."
Bell said the Razorbacks, who lost at Florida 87-83 on Feb. 3 in the teams' only regular-season meeting, don't think any less of the Gators because of their recent 1-4 stretch.
"It's the SEC Tournament and everybody's going to probably be playing their best basketball," Bell said. "We can't just look at that record and think they're playing bad and hanging their heads.
"We still know that we're going to get their best shot."
Anderson said every team enters the tournament with a 0-0 record and a one-game-at-a-time attitude.
"That's our motto, our mind-set," Anderson said. "What you try to do is survive and advance."
Sports on 03/08/2016