Preview: Gators Women’s Basketball Returns Home vs. Arkansas

Gators women’s basketball returns home from a three-game road trip tonight. They’ll be tasked with taking on the 16-8 Arkansas Razorbacks in a big SEC matchup.

Gators Riding High

Florida is currently ranked 17th in the AP top 25, which is quite a feat in itself for a team originally projected to finish outside of the SEC’s top 10. This is the first time since the 2015-2016 season that the Orange & Blue have found themselves in these top 25 rankings.

They’re coming off of an undefeated road trip, and have now won nine of 10. Their only loss came at the hands of the top-seed Gamecocks. The Gators currently sit at 9-3 in conference play and 19-6 overall.

Their nine SEC wins are the most they’ve had since that 15-16 season, in which they won a total of ten games against the rest of the SEC.

Kiara Smith, Jordyn Merritt and Zipporah Broughton have been Florida’s most consistent contributors on the season. The three standouts combine for 35 points per game – half of the team’s average scoring output. Broughton’s coming off of a great game in the win vs. Auburn, chipping in 18 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Gators are going to need these stellar outputs to continue against Arkansas and through the last four games of the regular season. Starting tonight, they’ll look to finish out a thus-far-successful season strong.

Gators’ Stars On and Off the Court

Kelly Rae Finley joined the Gators women’s basketball staff in 2017 as an assistant coach. During her time in the position, from 2017-2019, Finley specialized in the development of guards as well as in recruiting. Seeing so many young guards make so many big strides under Finley, it was just a matter of time before she’d take a step forward.

In May of 2019, Finley was promoted to Associate Head Coach, serving in the role until July of 2021 – when everything changed.

That July, then-head coach Cam Newbauer made the decision to step down due to personal reasons. He’d finish his coaching tenure at UF with a 15-47 conference record and a 46-71 overall record. He had left much to be desired, to say the least.

Finley stepped in as Interim Head Coach, and has held that responsibility to this date.

It’s difficult to argue against the positive impact that she has had on the organization in her time as Head Coach. The Gators are having a successful season, even despite the transfer of Lavender Briggs. The season began with questions of when the Gators would find their head coach. Now, the questions are whether they already have.

Most recently, Kelly Rae Finely has been added to the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year 2022 Watchlist.

https://twitter.com/GatorsWBK/status/1494048918367350784

Play4Kay

The game against Arkansas will act as Florida’s annual Play4Kay game. The Gators will be wearing special pink jerseys and donating revenue to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, honoring female cancer survivors and warriors.

Last year, UF fell short against Kentucky, 88-80, in their Play4Kay game. This year, they’ll look for a better outcome on what is always such an incredible night.

https://twitter.com/GatorsWBK/status/1494295572878082056

Which Fire Will Dwindle?

The Gators aren’t the only team coming into this matchup hot.

Arkansas enters the contest winning five of their last seven. They’re most recently coming off of a dominant road win against Missouri.

For the Razorbacks, Amber Ramirez is shining – recently bringing in an SEC Co-Player of the Week award. She’s doing her damage in the form of 16 points and five rebounds per game.

Makayla Daniels is having a nice year as well, averaging over 14 points and five rebounds per game herself.

Tonight, two of the SEC’s hottest teams will clash. One team will roll on toward a successful closing stretch of the season. The other will shift their focus to a bounce-back game.