Ricky Council, Jalen Graham react to building momentum with home win

Arkansas secured a much-needed win at home on Saturday after back-to-back losses, defeating Florida handily 84-65. Razorbacks Ricky Council and Jalen Graham had major impacts on the win and spoke after the game on the importance of Saturday’s victory.

“Yeah real good, they were a bubble team, I know we’re kind of hanging on ourselves if we would’ve had a couple bad losses,” Council. “So I’m just happy we got a win, family down here, spend time with them so I’m good.”

Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman made an interesting lineup change Saturday, deciding to have Council come off of the bench for just the second time this season. Council is the team’s leading scorer and the SEC’s second-leading scorer averaging 16.4 points per game. He also leads the team in field goal percentage, and still managed to score 15 points versus the Gators in his 32 minutes off of the bench.

“The goal is make it to the tournament, we needed this win, we got the win. We have four more games that we need to get wins in, so we knew we needed this win and I’m happy we got it,” Graham said. “But we just got to keep going, we gotta get on a run like we did before we lost the two games, so that’s what we’re gonna continue to do.”

Graham celebrated a career-high 26 points off of the bench for the Gators, shooting an efficient 80% from the field and adding 7 rebounds and two blocks to his career game. He also played a season-high 27 minutes versus Florida, making the most of his biggest opportunity of the season.

Council coming off of the bench and Graham impressing with more minutes definitely adds an intriguing new element and equation for Musselman to figure out with four crucial games remaining to end the season. Musselman said after the game that Council reacted well to coming off of the bench versus Florida and will reevaluate that decision in their next game versus Georgia.

But after their Tuesday matchup with the Bulldogs, the Razorbacks face the conference’s two top teams on the road, No. 2 Alabama and No. 11 Tennessee, followed by a home regular-season finale and rematch versus Kentucky.

The gauntlet has been set for the Razorbacks, and all eyes will be on them to see if they can close out the season strong and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.