FINAL: Arkansas 84, Florida 65

WHAT HAPPENED: Arkansas senior backup forward Jalen Graham scored a career-high 26 points and the Razorbacks out-shot visiting Florida by 20 percentage points Saturday in an 84-65 blowout at Bud Walton Arena that proved an ominous start to the post-Colin Castleton era. Minus Castleton, the team’s leading scorer, rebound and rim protector, the Gators shot just 37.3 percent from the floor (including four of 21 from the 3-point line) and allowed the Razorbacks to make 57.6 percent, the highest for any Southeastern Conference opponent this season. Graham, in his first season since transferring from Arizona State, came off the bench to hit 12 of 15 from the floor, with 14 of his points coming in a first half that was mostly tight. Freshman guard Anthony Black, a projected NBA lottery pick, had 14 points and five rebounds, while guard Ricky Council IV, another projected first-rounder, had 15 points and seven rebounds. Florida got 17 points from freshman guard Riley Kugel, for his fourth straight game in double-figure scoring and 10 from sophomore guard Will Richard, but sorely missed Castleton’s 16 points per game and all-around low-post skills on both ends of the floor. His replacement in the starting unit, 6-foot-11, 300-pound Jason Jitoboh, finished with four points and two rebounds over 24 minutes. UF actually got off to a decent start, leading by five at three different times in the first half, the last with just under nine minutes to go at 21-16. The margin was four when Arkansas took off on a run of 11 consecutive points, making seven straight field-goal attempts while Florida was missing nine in a row. The lead was six, 37-31 at halftime, but the Hogs put the game away by starting the second period on a 17-2 run to take a commanding 21-point advantage that swelled to as high as 25.

WHAT IT MEANS: For Florida’s sake, hopefully not a preview of coming attractions the rest of the regular season. In losing a third straight in their series with the Hogs, the Gators will fall somewhere between sixth and 10th place in the SEC standings by day’s end. UF is now 2-10 in Quadrant 1 games (Arkansas came in at No. 21 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings), but it’s probably safe to stop keeping track of the Gators’ NET situation now.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The tri-Castleton low-post replacements of Jitoboh, sophomore