The short-handed Gators will be challenged tonight when they host Arkansas at the O’Connell Center.

Florida coach Mike White entered this week wondering if he would have enough healthy players to practice to prepare for Wednesday's game against Arkansas.

The news is getting slightly better on the depth front, but the short-handed Gators will still be challenged when they host the Razorbacks at the O’Connell Center.

Freshman guard Deaundrae Ballard will likely be back after sitting out UF’s last two games with an illness. But sophomore center Gorjok Gak remains in concussion protocol and is doubtful after suffering a concussion last Saturday against Ole Miss.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson isn’t afraid to go to his bench while playing an up-tempo style. Anderson uses a rotation of 10 players in order to keep players fresh to play transition offense and full-court pressure defense.

“Coach Anderson, at all of his stops, has been known for that; utilizing all their guys, known for being deep and staying fresh,” White said. “They’re going to play really hard. Their bench is going to play really hard. We’ve got to do our best to match that intensity and we’ve got to do our best to watch guys’ minutes.”

Lack of depth was a factor in the second half of UF’s 78-72 loss at Ole Miss on Saturday. With Gak out for the last 20 minutes with a concussion and center Kevarrius Hayes and guard Jalen Hudson in foul trouble, Florida was forced to play senior guard Egor Koulechov 38 minutes and senior point guard Chris Chiozza for 37 minutes. The Gators allowed Ole Miss to shoot 60 percent from the field and score 47 points in the second half. Fatigue played a factor in some defensive breakdowns.

Chiozza said he’s back to 100 percent after dealing with a bout of strep throat last week and is ready to take on as many minutes as needed to help the Gators win.

“Every game is a huge test,” Chiozza said. “Arkansas is a good team. They’ve got a lot of good players and they have a fast pace to their game. We’re just going to play our game and try not to let them change our pace too much. They’re going to try to speed us up and press a lot. We’re just going to try to slow them down a little bit and not let them get any easy shots.”

Led by speedy senior guards Anton Beard, Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford, Arkansas has played the fastest offensive tempo in the SEC in conference games. The Razorbacks lost senior big man Moses Kingsley last year, but replaced him with an impressive freshman post player, 6-foot-11, 234-pound inside scorer Daniel Gafford.

“They’re very much up-tempo, but they’ll also try to pound you in the paint a little bit,” White said. “Gafford has been terrific. One of the best young front-court talents in the country. And he’s not the only one they’ll post. They’ll also post some wings and guards at times. Barford will occasionally take his man into the post sometimes, as well. They’re very balanced in their scoring. Scoring threes, scoring free throws.”

The Razorbacks are second in the SEC in scoring at 85.1 points per game, but have slumped of late, averaging 58 points over their last two games. Still, the Gators can’t take anything for granted. Defensively, Florida has been unable to find the balance between guarding the post and defending the 3-point line. At times, the Gators have been forced to double-team in the post to compensate for size mismatches, which has left the 3-point line open. As a result, Florida’s ability to shoot from 3-point range (39 percent) has been negated by its inability to defend it (37.1 percent 3-point field goal defense).

“Our worst defensive number is the way we're defending the three,” White said. “And a part of it is the way we're defending the interior. So we've got to find that balance. We're coming off a game in which we obviously didn't find the right balance because we didn't guard either very proficiently. So we're going to have to do a better job.”

White will be looking for his bench to step up on both ends of the floor. Hudson has been a reliable scoring sixth man and is averaging a team-high 16.2 points per game in nine starts and seven games off the bench. Freshman guard Mike Okauru was a bright spot off the bench in the Ole Miss loss, scoring nine points, his most since scoring a season-high 15 points against Stanford on Nov. 23.

With Gak likely out, Florida may need more minutes from redshirt freshman forward Dontay Bassett, who will move up to the third post player in a rotation that includes starting forward Keith Stone and starting center Kevarrius Hayes.

“Dontay’s gonna have to give us something,” White said. “Kevarrius and Keith Stone are gonna have to play really physical and intelligent, and do their best to not be sitting by me in foul trouble. And then, of course, our backcourt has got to do a great job of helping with the interior defense and rebounding.”

Cleared to work

Florida senior center John Egbunu took a positive step in his return to the court when he was cleared for non-contact drills in practice Monday.

Florida coach Mike White said the timetable for the 6-foot-11, 265-pound Egbunu remains a late January return at the earliest. Egbunu tore his ACL last Feb. 14 against Auburn and underwent surgery in early March.

Freshman center Isaiah Stokes (torn ACL recovery) and freshman forward Chase Johnson (concussion) also took part in non-contact work in practice Monday. 

“(Egbunu) looked great, he looked enormous. He’s got to get back in game shape, same with Isaiah Stokes,” White said. “It looks like we just signed two defensive ends. They’re both just big guys and John showed a little explosion, again non-contact, but he darn near tore the rim down a couple times yesterday and he was excited about it.”

Egbunu averaged 7.8 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds last season. Without him, the Gators have struggled to defend in the paint and score consistently inside.

Florida senior point guard Chris Chiozza said it was good to see Egbunu back on the court.

“Our post defense will be better when he’s back,” Chiozza said. “We won’t have to trap as much and he can clean up some more mistakes like Kevarrius does a good job of doing. I think when we get him back we’re going to have an even better defense and interior presence.”