Keith Stone stood in the right corner as Canyon Barry drove toward the basket.
With no more room to operate, Barry kicked the ball out to Stone, who launched a contested three-pointer as the shot clock expired.
Stone hadn’t made a shot from beyond the arc in over a month.
He swished it, giving No. 12 Florida a commanding lead over the Razorbacks with under six minutes to play in Wednesday night’s game.
On none other than Senior Night, what a moment for the redshirt freshman.
Prior to Wednesday night, Stone had been in a major offensive slump.
After scoring a career-high 17 points against Georgia on Jan. 14, Stone hadn’t scored more than two points in a game, including eight scoreless contests. He’d hit one of his last 20 shots from the floor and was 0-for-14 on three-pointers.
That all changed against Arkansas.
Stone scored eight points on 3-for-4 shooting and grabbed three critical rebounds in nine minutes of action.
UF coach Mike White wasn’t sure his team would have won the game without Stone’s effective play.
White also added that Stone had some of his best practices since his slump began in the days leading up to the Arkansas game.
“He showed signs probably 10 days ago,” White said. “The last two days were the best two practices he’s had in six, eight weeks… . We thought he was getting closer and closer.
“He’s gaining some confidence back.”
And at a good time, too.
With just one regular season game remaining — a Saturday afternoon contest against Vanderbilt in Nashville — Florida is one step away from the postseason, where it will need to be playing its best basketball of the year.
Since the 2013-14 season, the Gators haven’t made an NCAA Tournament appearance, and they’ve failed to advance past the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
With a shot to erase the team’s recent mediocrity, Florida will need a collective effort to go as deep as it can into March — especially considering the absence of center John Egbunu, sidelined with a torn ACL.
With the “smooth” now back in Stone’s game, there’s no telling how far the Gators can go.
“He’s back playing like the way he was earlier in the season,” senior guard Kasey Hill said. “He got his confidence back, and he’s playing great. We’re gonna need him to keep playing like that.
“And I think he can.”
Ray Boone is a sports writer. His columns appear on Fridays. Contact him at rboone@alligator.org, and follow him on Twitter @rboone1994.
UF forward Keith Stone blocks a shot during Florida's 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt on Jan. 21, 2017, in the O'Connell Center.
