Jalen Graham's hot shooting leads Arkansas past Florida

Jalen Graham scored a career-high 26 points as Arkansas pulled away in the second half for an 84-65 victory over visiting Florida in Southeastern Conference play on Saturday at Fayetteville, Ark.

Graham shot 12 of 15 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds, while Makhi Mitchell had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ricky Council IV had 15 points and seven rebounds, with Anthony Black chipping in 14 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Razorbacks.

Nick Smith Jr. finished with 10 for Arkansas, which ended a two-game losing streak.

The Razorbacks (18-9, 7-7 SEC), who led by as many as 25 in the second half, shot 34 of 59 (57.6 percent) from the field, including 2 of 10 (20 percent) from 3-point range. Arkansas outrebounded the Gators 40-25.

Florida (14-13, 7-7) struggled without injured standout senior forward Colin Castleton, who leads the team in points (16.0), rebounds (7.7) and blocks (3.0) and is out indefinitely after breaking his right hand in a win over Ole Miss on Wednesday.

He was replaced in the starting lineup by Jason Jitoboh, who had four points and two rebounds in 24 minutes against the Razorbacks. Arkansas outscored Florida 52-36 in the paint.

The Gators, who have dropped four of their past five games, were led by Riley Kugel, who had 17 points, while Will Richard chipped in 10.

Florida shot 22 of 59 (37.3 percent) from the field, including 4 of 21 (19 percent) from beyond the arc.

Leading by six at halftime, the Razorbacks put the game away by opening the second half on a 17-2 run to take a 54-33 lead following Graham's dunk with 14:12 to play.

Graham's layup extended Arkansas' advantage to 63-38 with 11:18 left.

Neither team led by more than seven points in the first half, which ended with Arkansas up 37-31 at halftime.