Florida guard Boogie Fland circled game against No. 20 Arkansas months ago

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Boogie Fland will have friends in every direction on the court Saturday night when No. 7 Florida hosts 20th-ranked Arkansas.

Fland, who played for the Razorbacks last season, will have his current coaches and teammates on one bench and his former coaches and teammates on the other.

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“It’s going to be very special to share a court with them again,” Fland said Friday. “It was definitely circled on my calendar, just coming from there and being from there.”

Fland hopes it goes better than his previous reunion game, a loss in early December against UConn in New York City. Fland bought about a hundred tickets for friends and family to attend his homecoming and then had eight points, one rebound, one assist and no steals in 22 minutes before fouling out.

“Just keep doing what I’m doing and keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s another game, honestly. Just has different meaning.”

Florida (22-6, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) can clinch at least a share of the league’s regular-season title with a victory. A win against Arkansas (21-7, 11-4) coupled with Tennessee beating Alabama would give the Gators the outright crown for the first time since 2014.

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That’s the motivation Florida coach Todd Golden wants his guys focused on instead of Fland trying to beat his former team.

“It’s not about Boogie. It’s not about his matchup with Arkansas,” Golden said. “This is the two best teams in the league right now competing on ESPN with ‘GameDay’ here. There is a lot more to play for.”

Fland will draw arguably the toughest assignment on the floor: trying to slow down star freshman Darius Acuff Jr., who leads the league in scoring and assists.

Acuff is looking to join Hall of Famer Pete Maravich as the second in SEC history to lead the league in those two categories in a single season. Acuff, who dropped 49 points in a double-overtime loss at Alabama last weekend, is averaging 22.2 points and 6.2…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/florida-guard-boogie-fland-circled-200230553.html

Author : MARK LONG

Publish date : 2026-02-27 20:02:00

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