For the first time in 27 years, the University of Arkansas basketball team got to enjoy the trip home from Gainesville, Fla.
The No. 18 Razorbacks ended their losing streak at Florida at 14 games when they rallied to beat the Gators 82-74 in Exactech Arena on Tuesday night.
Arkansas (22-6, 11-4 SEC) beat Florida (17-11, 7-8) on the road for the first time since the defending national champion Razorbacks won 94-85 on Feb. 28, 1995.
"It's huge just knowing I wasn't even born the last time they won here," said senior guard JD Notae, who led the Razorbacks with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. "And it was hard, but we got it done."
The Gators looked like they might extend Arkansas' misery in Gainesville when they took a 60-54 lead with 7:57 left on a three-point play by 6-11 senior Colin Castleton.
But the Razorbacks outscored the Gators 28-14 the final 7:44, including nine points by sophomore guard Davonte "Devo" Davis.
"I thought Devo Davis was absolutely phenomenal," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said.
Davis had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He hit 7 of 10 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers.
"Oh, he was amazing," Notae said. "That's the Devo we know. We know he's capable of doing that each and every night."
Musselman said Davis took over at point guard late in the game, which allowed Notae to play off the ball.
Stanley Umude's three-pointer gave the Razorbacks the lead for good at 66-64, then Notae hit a three to put Arkansas ahead 75-71 with 1:06 left when he got Anthony Duruji out of position with a fake, stepped back and made the shot.
"Yeah, we work on it every day, JD and I," Musselman said with a laugh when asked about the shot. "I go over to the side court and really want him shooting a side-step three when the game's on the line.
"In all seriousness, JD does work on that. He really, really does. I told an NBA buddy of mine today, we were talking about our team and I said the thing that makes [Notae] so dangerous to guard is he shoots from anywhere.
"He's like [Golden State star] Steph Curry in the fact that those guys just shoot from wherever, whenever. You think they're absurd shots and they go in and they stretch the defense out.
"It really puts pressure on defensive teams because I never know when he's going to shoot, so I don't know how the heck they'd ever know when he's going to shoot."
Notae said he saw the 6-7 Duruji coming at him to attempt to block his shot.
"I just saw him flying at me, so I gave him a little up-fake," Notae said. "Been working on that all week. And I just let it ride."
Davis capped the scoring with a dunk -- which drew a technical foul when he hung on the rim and slapped the backboard -- with 19.3 seconds left and then hit two free throws with 7.4 seconds to play.
Davis apologized for the technical, but Musselman said he was fine with it.
"He got up high and he's emotional," Musselman said. "I'm emotional. It's all good, man. We'll take the W and move on."
Sophomore foward Jaylin Williuams had his 10th double-double of the season for the Razorbacks with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He played the final 7:57 after drawing his fourth foul.
"Obviously I trusted him to have him still in there," Musselman said. "We moved Stan over to Castleton and moved Jaylin over to guard a perimeter player."
Castleton led the Gators with 29 points.
"We were willing to live with the ball going inside," Musselman said. "Because once we got the lead, we thought we would still have the ability to score, but we just felt like if they started hitting threes, that might be too much to overcome."
Au'Diese Toney scored 12 points for the Razorbacks and Umude had 11, giving them five scorers in double figures.
"We shared it," Notae said. "Everybody got involved."
Florida senior guard Tyree Appleby, who like Davis is from Jacksonville, scored 19 points.
"He's a terrific player," Davis said. "We always played with each other and against each other back at home during the summer time."
Appleby hit two three-pointers to open the game as Florida jumped out to a 12-4 lead.
"He [was] able to put the game in their hands at first," Davis said. "But you see we came out with the win. I think that's the most important thing."
Gators Coach Mike White said his team struggled to get into a defensive rhythm the entire game.
"We just gave up 82 at home," White said. "You can't win big games like that, obviously, unless you're an elite offensive team."
The Razorbacks limited their turnovers to six.
"The most impressive thing is having just six turnovers against a team that really turns people over and is aggressive defensively," Musselman said. "Great job taking care of the basketball on the road."
Musselman said he also was proud of Arkansas outrebounding Florida 39-31. The Razorbacks had 12 offensive rebounds and outscored the Gators 16-8 on second-chance points.
"Unfortunately, we have not embraced pursuing the ball aggressively with two hands as much as a team like Arkansas," White said. "With most of the 50-50 situations, they came up with the ball. I thought that was the difference in the game."
Davis is among the Razorbacks who are now 1-0 at Florida, but he understood the significance of ending Arkansas' road losing streak in Gainesville.
"It feels good," Davis said. "This team made history again.
"As the season goes on as people continue to doubt us, I think we will continue to prove everybody wrong. This team is amazing, and I'm glad we came in here and broke that streak."
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