Defending national champion Florida clinched a share of the SEC men’s basketball regular-season title with a 111-77 demolition of Arkansas on Saturday night.
The Gators improved their record to 14-2 in the SEC (23-6 overall), which gives them a two-game lead over Alabama with two games remaining on the regular-season schedule. Florida closes out the season by hosting Mississippi State (13-16, 5-11 SEC) and visiting Kentucky (19-10, 10-6). A win in one of those two games will clinch the conference title.
Alabama faces Georgia (20-9, 8-8) on the road and Auburn (15-14, 6-10) at home in their final two games.
Thomas Haugh led Florida with 22 points and 5 rebounds, while Alex Condon added 17 points with 6 assists and Rueben Chinyelu grabbed 16 rebounds. The Gators have won nine consecutive games and 18 of their past 20 since losing two in a row to No. 1 Duke and No. 6 UConn in early December.
The 34-point loss for Arkansas ties the worst defeat in head coach John Calipari’s career. While at Kentucky, the Wildcats lost to Duke, 118-84, to open the 2018-19 season. For the Razorbacks, the margin is the worst SEC loss in program history, topping the 73-45 defeat to the Gators during the 2010-11 campaign.
The SEC men’s basketball tournament begins on March 11. The top four seeds receive byes through the first two rounds into the quarterfinals.