Arkansas stuns Florida in OT

Posted 7:38AM on Sunday 27th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - Like a football coach, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson went with his defense first and kept his offense on the bench. Jannero Pargo sat with Richardson while Charles Tatum and his teammates set a frantic pace with three steals in the first 89 seconds. Pargo entered the game after four minutes and scored a career-high 35, including a 3 that sent the game into overtime and a 14-foot jumper with 2.7 seconds to play, as Arkansas beat No. 5 Florida 94-92 on Saturday. ``I didn't start him because I wanted to get defense started early and let him score off the bench, and he did,'' Richardson said. ``He made some big-time plays down the stretch,'' said Florida coach Billy Donovan. ``His shot ... to tie the game reminded me of (Brett) Nelson's shot against Tennessee. Now I've been on both ends and I know what it feels like.'' When Orien Greene's 3 clanged off the rim at the buzzer to give the Gators their second straight loss, students poured onto the court, celebrating in the middle of the giant red-and-white Razorback hog. One student held aloft a hand-lettered sign that read, ``Sorry Florida. No recounts today.'' ``After I saw that last shot, I thought we'd gotten beat,'' Richardson said. ``He had a great look and the ball was on line.'' Pargo, 14-of-45 from long range over his last six games, was 7-of-8 from behind the arc against the Gators (15-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference). During his slump, Arkansas (11-8, 3-4) had lost four straight. ``He hit every big shot for us today,'' said Brandon Dean. ``It is not that he was playing bad. He was just taking bad shots.'' Arkansas went in front for the first time since early in the game when Michael Jones got loose on the baseline for a 78-77 lead with 1:27 to play. Udonis Haslem, who missed two free throws with the Gators in front 76-74, made four straight to put Florida up 81-78 before Pargo was good from 22 feet with 25 seconds to play. Fifteen seconds later, Florida's Justin Hamilton - back in action for the first time in almost two weeks - missed two free throws. Determined not to let Pargo beat them, the Gators forced Arkansas to look elsewhere and Dionisio Gomez threw up something that didn't have much chance as time ran out. In the overtime, Pargo's seventh 3 gave Arkansas an 86-85 lead. After a pass from Pargo, Carl Baker scored from 15 feet. Haslem fouled out when J.J. Sullinger backed in against the smaller Nelson, and Sullinger completed the three-point play to make it 91-87. Hamilton stole the ball from Dean and made two free throws to bring the Gators within 91-90 with 51 seconds to play. With a 15-second difference between the shot clock and the game clock, Sullinger got the go-ahead from the bench and headed down the lane. He made one of two free throws with 23 seconds left, but Hamilton then went the length of the court for a 92-92 tie with 16 seconds to play. Pargo then got around Hamilton for the game-winner. ``He knocked down some crazy shots but you have to respect his shooting,'' Hamilton said. After trying to use three inside players against Georgia on Wednesday, Richardson went back to his three-guard lineup and pressured from one baseline to the other. Florida committed a season-high 25 turnovers and the Razorbacks made 28 points off those mistakes. ``I like to say we need to be like a bunch of dogs with rabies; you don't want to get too close to us,'' Richardson said. ``That is the way we have to play to win.'' Florida led 42-40 at halftime, mostly on the shooting of Nelson, who scored 15 of his 23 in the first 20 minutes. A 35 percent 3-point shooter during the year, he made 6-of-13 against Arkansas. ``I can't explain what it feels like to beat a team of this caliber,'' Sullinger said. ``We can play this type of style and we aren't going to change anything. We really found some chemistry today.''

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