ST. LOUIS -- The Arkansas Razorbacks decided they'd had enough of losing to Florida and did something about it.
The Razorbacks beat the No. 23 Gators 80-72 Friday night in Scottrade Center in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals to end an eight-game losing streak to Florida.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (23-10) advances to play Tennessee (24-7) in a semifinal game at 2:30 p.m. today.
Arkansas' last victory over the Gators had been five years ago, 80-69 on Feb. 5, 2013, in Coach Mike Anderson's second season with the Razorbacks.
"It was fun out there," said senior guard Jaylen Barford, who led Arkansas with 27 points and 10 rebounds. "We were into it defensively and offensively.
"I know the fans were excited, and we were excited and Coach was juiced. We wanted to win that game bad."
None of the current Razorbacks -- including five seniors -- had beaten Florida.
"From what I've been hearing, the excitement from the seniors, it was a real big win," said Arkansas 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds. "This was a win we really needed, so we just came out and handled our business."
Gafford punctuated the victory with a windmill dunk with 15 seconds left after catching a pass from senior guard Anton Beard.
"From the mouth of Arlando Cook, that was the icing on the cake from his perspective," said Gafford, referring to Arkansas' senior forward. "When Anton caught the ball, in my mind, I was pretty ready to throw it down. So I went ahead and windmilled it to put some flash on it."
Senior guard Daryl Macon scored 13 points for the Razorbacks and hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds. Beard scored 10 points.
Sophomore forward Keith Stone led the Gators (20-12) with 22 points, and senior guard Chris Chiozza had 16 points and 6 assists.
"I thought Arkansas was really good," Florida Coach Mike White said. "I thought they were the aggressor from the tip.
"I thought they got the majority of loose balls, pounded us on the glass, and we really struggled to string together consecutive stops versus a terrific, terrific offensive team.
"In addition, I thought they defended us at a high level, especially with their matchup zone."
Florida guard KeVaughn Allen, a junior from North Little Rock, had 11 points and shot 4 of 11.
In Florida's 88-73 victory over Arkansas in the O'Connell Center on Jan. 17, Allen scored 28 points and hit 8 of 12 shots while junior Jalen Hudson scored 21. Hudson had six points on 2-of-9 shooting Friday night.
"Our guys did a good job of paying special attention to those guys," Anderson said of Allen and Hudson. "You're going to give up something to somebody, but you don't want those big scorers to go off.
"I thought from that standpoint we did a good job defensively being with those guys, so they're not having target practice out there."
Arkansas went on 20-4 run, including eight points from Barford and six from Macon, to take a 66-50 lead with 3:28 left after Florida had tied it 46-46 on Stone's three-pointer.
"I thought our guys were dialed in," Anderson said. "All of a sudden the defense triggered the offense, and before you know it, our guys got multiple stops and we really started attacking the basket and knocking down some shots."
Florida couldn't pull closer than seven points the rest of the game.
Arkansas outscored Florida 8-0 over the final 3:49 of the first half to take a 30-29 halftime.
Barford started the Razorbacks' run with a driving basket. Gafford then got a one-handed rebound dunk, Macon scored on a bank shot and Adrio Bailey scored on a layup with an assist from Gafford.
Gafford blocked a shot by Chiozza with a second left in the half to make sure Arkansas kept the lead.
It was the 40th consecutive victory for the Razorbacks when they led after the first half.
Anderson downplayed stopping the losing streak to Florida.
"It's the next game on the schedule, that's all I look at," he said. "It's Arkansas versus Florida.
"What has taken place last year, or earlier this year, they played well. They had our number. But it's the next game to get us to one of the goals we've talked about, and that's winning a conference championship."
Arkansas outrebounded Florida 43-28.
"Every game I say if we outrebound them, we win the game," Gafford said. "And that's what we did."
Arkansas is in the SEC Tournament semifinals for the 14th time, and second year in a row, since joining the conference for the 1991-1992 season.
The Razorbacks, who improved to 14-2 in quarterfinal games, are 7-6 in the semifinals.
Arkansas beat Tennessee 95-93 in overtime in Walton Arena on Dec. 30 to open SEC play. Macon scored 33 points and Barford 28.
"The Tennessee game was crazy," Barford said.
The Razorbacks are 8-2 in their past 10 games.
"This team is believing in each other," Anderson said. "Defensively and offensively, guys are understanding their roles.
"I still think we've got some really good basketball in us, especially when we come out with that kind of intensity."
Sports on 03/10/2018