Struggles continue for Razorbacks
Women's Basketball
Derek Oxford
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Sports
With the offense finally starting to click, Arkansas coach Tom Collen was hoping for an upset of No. 12 Florida Sunday, but wasn't anticipating the visiting Gators to hit 13 three-pointers, setting a new school record.
As a result, Florida won 94-78 and remained in the hunt for the Southeastern Conference title, tying for first place with No. 5 Auburn, who is coming off a loss against Georgia last week.
"The frustrating thing to me is, we might have played our best offensive game of the year, statistically speaking in terms of the way we shot," Collen said. "A lot of that was we got aggressive late in the game."
Collen acknowledged that the way Florida plays - up-tempo and aggressive offensively - is exactly how he wants his team to play.
"Ironically, [the Gators] are a lot like we want to be," Collen said. "They're great at ballscreens and reading ballscreens. They've got kids who can come off ballscreens and shoot the step-back three."
He realized, however, that Florida's personnel is drastically different than that of his own team.
"They've probably got a few more parts, a few more big kids that they can roll at you that can defend and rebound," Collen said. "They're very well-coached on the offensive end of the floor. There's no doubt about it."
Defensive lapse
Arkansas put together what Collen said might have been the best game offensively all year, but didn't back it up with solid defense against the Gators.
"I was just very disappointed with our defense," Collen said. "I don't think we were ready to play early; we dug a hole and never dug out. We never got to a point where we got two or three stops in a row. We've got to that point before, and we didn't get there [Sunday]."
Lyndsay Harris, who was one of Arkansas' leading scorers with 17 points, said that Florida's confidence shooting the ball early rattled the Razorbacks.
"Our intensity on defense wasn't good enough," Harris said. "When you're wide open, you're going to make shots like that, and if we would have contested them, the first half wouldn't have went their way as much as it did."
As a result, Florida won 94-78 and remained in the hunt for the Southeastern Conference title, tying for first place with No. 5 Auburn, who is coming off a loss against Georgia last week.
"The frustrating thing to me is, we might have played our best offensive game of the year, statistically speaking in terms of the way we shot," Collen said. "A lot of that was we got aggressive late in the game."
Collen acknowledged that the way Florida plays - up-tempo and aggressive offensively - is exactly how he wants his team to play.
"Ironically, [the Gators] are a lot like we want to be," Collen said. "They're great at ballscreens and reading ballscreens. They've got kids who can come off ballscreens and shoot the step-back three."
He realized, however, that Florida's personnel is drastically different than that of his own team.
"They've probably got a few more parts, a few more big kids that they can roll at you that can defend and rebound," Collen said. "They're very well-coached on the offensive end of the floor. There's no doubt about it."
Defensive lapse
Arkansas put together what Collen said might have been the best game offensively all year, but didn't back it up with solid defense against the Gators.
"I was just very disappointed with our defense," Collen said. "I don't think we were ready to play early; we dug a hole and never dug out. We never got to a point where we got two or three stops in a row. We've got to that point before, and we didn't get there [Sunday]."
Lyndsay Harris, who was one of Arkansas' leading scorers with 17 points, said that Florida's confidence shooting the ball early rattled the Razorbacks.
"Our intensity on defense wasn't good enough," Harris said. "When you're wide open, you're going to make shots like that, and if we would have contested them, the first half wouldn't have went their way as much as it did."
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