GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Keyontae Johnson scored a career-high 24 points, Andrew Nembhard added 17 and Florida beat Arkansas 73-59 on Tuesday night for their 11th victory in the last 12 meetings.
The Gators (17-9, 9-4 Southeastern Conference) also extended their winning streak against the Razorbacks in Gainesville to 14. Arkansas (16-10, 4-9) hasn't won in the O'Connell Center since Feb. 28, 1995.
Noah Locke chipped in 11 points for Florida, thanks mostly to three 3-pointers. Kerry Blackshear Jr. picked up four fouls — all on the offensive end — in his first 9 minutes of action. He finished with two points, five rebounds and six turnovers.
Arkansas played its fifth consecutive game without preseason All-SEC selection Isaiah Joe, who had arthroscopic debridement surgery on his right knee two weeks ago.
The Razorbacks trailed by 19 points in the opening half, but took advantage of Florida's foul trouble to whittle that down to two for several possessions after the break. The Gators turned to Nembhard and Johnson to rebuild a double-digit lead down the stretch.
Nembhard made two free throws after getting fouled on a drive and later added consecutive left-handed layups. Johnson hit four from the charity stripe and sank a floater in the lane. They were all of Florida's offense in a 12-2 spurt that made it a 12-point game.
Mason Jones led Arkansas with 21 points. Adrio Bailey added 16 as the Razorbacks lost their fifth consecutive game in league play.
Early on, Florida looked like it would have no problem extending its dominance in the series. The Gators made 10 of their first 15 shots, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range, and led 30-11.
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman called two timeouts, both after Locke hit 3s, in hopes of squashing Florida's momentum. The second one seemed to work.
Arkansas closed the opening 20 minutes with a 15-3 run that sliced into the 19-point lead. It surely helped that the Gators played 18 minutes without Blackshear and nearly 10 without Johnson. Both picked up a pair of fouls early.
The Razorbacks trailed 33-26 at the break and opened the second half with an easy bucket and then forced a turnover on the other end. But the inconsistent Gators regrouped and started to find their footing.
BIG PICTURE
Arkansas: The Razorbacks won't be the same until Joe returns. He ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 16 points a game, and is one of the team's best 3-point shooters and perimeter defenders.
Florida: The Gators have won five of six since looking like their NCAA Tournament hopes were on life support. How they finish down the stretch will determine if they make it the big dance for the fourth consecutive year.
UP NEXT
Arkansas: The Razorbacks play three of their next four at home, beginning Saturday when they host Missouri.
Florida: The Gators begin a daunting closing, regular-seasons stretch at No. 10 Kentucky on Saturday. They also face LSU, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky again before the conference tournament.
EARLIER
Final | Florida 73, Arkansas 59
The Razorbacks' losing streak in SEC play has reached five games after falling on the road against the Gators on Tuesday.
Mason Jones finished with a team-high 21 points and Adrio Bailey added 16 points and 8 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome a 19-point first-half deficit. Jimmy Whitt also added 10 points.
Florida was led by a career-high 24 points from Keyontae Johnson and 17 from Andrew Nembhard. Gators starting forward Kerry Blackshear finished with just two points, five rebounds and six turnovers.
The Razorbacks (16-10, 4-9 SEC) return to Bud Walton Arena on Saturday against Missouri.
We will have more from tonight's game a little later on WholeHogSports.com.
3:55, 2H | Florida 64, Arkansas 52
The Razorbacks look like they are out of gas, and the Gators have taken advantage over the last three-plus minutes.
Florida is on an 8-0 run over the last two and a half minutes courtesy of Andrew Nembhard and Keyontae Johnson. Nembhard added a layup on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to 10.
Arkansas has not scored in more than three minutes.
Reggie Chaney has not played in the second half. Eric Musselman has opted to run with Jeantal Cylla over him. Chaney was sitting on the bench with his legs extended and with one foot crossed over the other. Have to wonder what is going on with him.
7:38, 2H | Florida 54, Arkansas 50
The Razorbacks just missed two pretty good looks right around the rim, one by Mason Jones and the other by Adrio Bailey, that would have cut their deficit to two with eight to play.
Instead, Florida rebounds and draws contact at the rim on the other end and will shoot free throws on the other side of the break. Arkansas is 9 of 16 on layups tonight.
Mason Jones has 20 points, his seventh such game in SEC play this season. He's been unbelievable.
Ethan Henderson, who made his first career start tonight, fouled out with eight-plus minutes to play. He finished with seven points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in his 11 minutes. He is the team's second leading scorer in the second half. Someone is going to have to complement Jones down the stretch.
9:35, 2H | Florida 52, Arkansas 46
The teams have essentially traded buckets since the last timeout. Kerry Blackshear, too, picked up his fourth personal foul to send the game to the under-8 timeout.
Blackshear has just two points tonight to go with six turnovers. He's been a complete nonfactor.
Mason Jones has been big in the last few minutes. He is up to game-high 18 points, 10 in the second half on 4 of 7 from the floor. It looks like he's in a groove. Still, Arkansas is probably going to need some contributions from guys like Desi Sills and Jimmy Whitt to grab a win.
Keyontae Johnson has five points since the break to lead Florida. He has a team-high 13 for the game.
14:34, 2H | Florida 42, Arkansas 40
Great response from Arkansas after the Gators punched back with a quick spurt.
Jalen Harris buried a 3 from the left wing, his second in in 11 attempts in the five-plus games without Isaiah Joe, and Ethan Henderson added two dunks. Good to see him finishing with some authority. He had been 2 of 6 at the rim in SEC play entering tonight.
It's truly hard to believe, but the Razorbacks are right back in this thing
15:53, 2H | Florida 41, Arkansas 33
The Gators have scored the game's last five points since Arkansas pulled within three after two Mason Jones free throws.
Noah Locke took a Razorbacks defender off the bounce and pulled up from the free throw line, knocking down a jumper. Keyontae Johnson then took Jimmy Whitt to the rim, getting a layup to drop plus the foul. Johnson and Locke both have a team-high 11 points.
Adrio Bailey and Jones have 12 apiece for Arkansas. Bailey just picked up his third foul, though. The Razorbacks really need him on the floor. Arkansas has outscored Florida by 10 points when he is on the floor tonight.
18:25, 2H | Florida 36, Arkansas 33
The Razorbacks opened the second half with a well-designed play for Mason Jones, who faked a dribble handoff to Jalen Harris and got to the rim for a layup.
Adrio Bailey then hit his second 3 of the night, answering a Florida 3-pointer. He has a game-high 12 points.
During a deadball, Bailey sneakily tried to listen in to a Gators huddle on the floor, and Noah Locke gave him a slight shove. Bailey sold the foul and hit the floor. Locke was hit with a technical foul after a review, and Jones hit two free throws to make it a three-point game. Unreal.
Half | Florida 33, Arkansas 26
Adrio Bailey played his butt off to end the first half, sparking a 15-3 run to pull the Razorbacks within seven at the break.
Bailey scored nine points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds in his 14 minutes. The Razorbacks outscored Florida by six points with him in the lineup. He has infused energy into this once-lifeless bunch.
Still, despite the big run, Arkansas trails at half because of lackluster play defensively to begin the night. Noah Locke scored nine early points on three 3s, and Keyontae Johnson added eight. The Gators, though, missed 10 of their last 11 shots, leaving the door open for the Razorbacks.
Florida forward Kerry Blackshear will be back in the second half to anchor the interior. He picked up a pair of fouls in the game's opening minutes and sat the rest of the way. His replacements combined to hit 1 of 6 shots and grab three rebounds.
The Razorbacks, which opened the night 2 of 13 from the floor, made 6 of their last 9 shots of the half to make this a game again. Energy has to be good coming out of the break.
Bailey has a team-high nine points and Mason Jones has eight on 2 of 6 shooting. Jimmy Whitt has four points, and Desi Sills is scoreless. He was hit with a Flagrant 1 midway through the half. Curious to see what kind of role Ethan Henderson, who earned his first career start tonight then picked up three quick fouls, has after halftime.
4:26, 1H | Florida 31, Arkansas 18
Adrio Bailey bringing some life to the Razorbacks in the last couple of minutes.
He has seven points since the seven-minute mark, knocking down a 3 - his 7th in his last 10 attempts - and finishing twice at the rim, once after a miss around the rim by Mason Jones. Bailey also has a game-high five rebounds in his 10 minutes.
Florida, over the last two-plus minutes, has missed its last five shots, including three at the rim. Noah Locke still leads the Gators with nine points. Mike White called for time after Bailey's last bucket in transition, which was assisted by Jones.
7:29, 1H | Florida 28, Arkansas 11
The Razorbacks have now gone nine minutes without a made field goal. The team's last six points have come at the line. Ethan Henderson has Arkansas' last bucket. It came at the 16:25 mark.
Desi Sills, who was whistled for an offensive foul prior to the media timeout, and Mason Jones are a combined 0 of 6 from the floor and 0 of 3 from 3-point range. Jones has four points, all at the line.
Florida is shooting 62.5 percent to this point and is 5 of 7 from 3. Noah Locke is 3 of 3. The Gators have gotten buckets from six different players. They are pulling away with arguably their best player on the bench.
After video review, officials determined Sills' foul prior to the break is a Flagrant 1. His elbow apparently hit a Florida player in the head as he attempted to drive by him.
10:45, 1H | Florida 21, Arkansas 7
The Razorbacks can't get anything going offensively. They have not hit a shot in nearly six minutes.
Meanwhile, Florida players are getting to their spots and getting great looks, especially Noah Locke and Keyontae Johnson. Johnson has eight points, and Locke is 3 of 3 from deep. Arkansas continues to lose him, and that just flat out can't happen.
Ethan Henderson has three fouls and is now on the bench. Reggie Chaney entered in his place. Henderson has a team-high three points, and Jimmy Whitt and Jeantal Cylla each have two. Cylla hit a pair of free throws.
Arkansas is 1 of 7 at the rim tonight, 1 of 6 on layups.
13:04, 1H | Florida 16, Arkansas 5
The Gators have reeled off 10 straight points over the last two minutes, 48 seconds and taken an early double-digit lead. Noah Locke and Keyontae Johnson each have six points for Florida. Locke is the best 3-point shooter in the SEC in conference-only games, and he is 2 of 2 tonight.
Arkansas is 2 of 13 from the floor and 0 of 3 beyond the arc.
15:59, 1H | Florida 6, Arkansas 5
An early development for the Gators: star forward Kerry Blackshear has picked up two quick offensive fouls, sending him to the bench for quite a while.
Ethan Henderson has been solid to this point. He has three points after drawing a foul at the rim following a missed dunk. He split two free throws, then he tallied his first bucket on a stickback on the Razorbacks' ensuing possession.
Keyontae Johnson leads Florida with four points. He split a pair at the line in the first couple of minutes then hit a 3 in front of the Razorbacks' bench.
The Gators have thrown soft traps at Mason Jones and Jimmy Whitt seemingly every time they have the ball in the half court. We'll see how Arkansas adjusts to that.
Pregame
Arkansas' starting lineup: Jimmy Whitt, Mason Jones, Desi Sills, Adrio Bailey and Ethan Henderson.
Big moment for Henderson tonight as he makes his first career start. Reggie Chaney returns to the bench for the first time since Jan. 22. Henderson has played just 37 minutes this month, and he is 2 of 6 from the floor with seven rebounds.
This will be the Razorbacks' sixth game without sophomore sharpshooter Isaiah Joe. Arkansas is shooting 44.3 percent on looks inside the arc and a very solid 37.5 percent from 3 in games he has not played in. The 2-point field goal percentage is troubling.
With Joe out, the Razorbacks have made 54 percent of their attempts in the lane, 17.4 percent of 2-point shots on the right side of the floor and 26.6 percent on the left. Whitt is 1 of 10 on jumpers right of the lane. Jones is also a combined 2 of 15 on 2-point looks on either side of the painted area. Whitt and Sills are 22 of 55 in the lane in those 5 games. Arkansas has to be better there.
I'm eager to see if Jones can again carry the offensive load and if Sills can be a secondary scorer as he was in the second half against Mississippi State. Sills is averaging 10 points per game on the road this season. He might need to hit 15+ points for the Razorbacks to grab a win.
And can Whitt get going again? He is shooting 30.4 percent over his last four games. Arkansas really needs him to be productive and more efficient.
Florida's starters: Scottie Lewis (6-5), Noah Locke (6-3), Kerry Blackshear (6-10), Keyontae Johnson (6-5) and Andrew Nembhard (6-5).
This group has started each of the Gators' last six games and 14 times season. In those games, of which they are 10-4, this lineup has been really efficient offensively (1.12 PPP, 42.7 percent from 3) and held opponents to .90 PPP and 23.8 percent beyond the arc. The only downsides to this group are its 18.5 percent turnover rate and the fact it doesn't get to the line very often. We'll see if that holds tonight against a foul-prone Razorbacks team.
Locke has been lights out from the perimeter in conference play, knocking down 51.4 percent of his 74 attempts. He has hit 11 of his last 18 from 3 and holds the top offensive rating in the SEC in conference-only games (132.1), per KenPom.
Arkansas fans surely remember Johnson, who scored a then-career high 20 points on the Razorbacks in the Gators' 66-50 win in the SEC Tournament last March. He's shooting 58 percent on 2-point looks this season and 39 percent from distance. At 6-5, 231 pounds, he can be a matchup issue.
Blackshear anchors the Florida frontline. He is top 15 nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, according to KenPom, and has been solid on the defensive glass. Blackshear has scored in double figures in each SEC home game. After transferring from Virginia Tech, he chose Florida after visiting Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Running updates by Scottie Bordelon of WholeHogSports.com