The Florida Gators kicked off their 2023-24 basketball season with a 93-73 win over Loyola Mayland inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on Monday night. Florida’s 93 points marks the second highest point total in a single game under Todd Golden (FAMU, 102).
Florida jumped out to an early 16-0 lead behind a staggering defensive start and efficient three-point shooting.
“Great. What we were hoping for and we were able to accomplish it,” Todd Golden said on the fast start. “I thought we did a good job at the beginning of the second half that way as well. Wasn’t as pleased with the rest of the game, but in terms of kind of setting the tone early, then we stretched that thing out to 26 with 12 and a half to go. I would have liked us to keep our foot on the gas a little better that way, but a 20-point win, we’ll take it.”
Sophomore guard Riley Kugel put together one of his better performances in his Gators’ career, recording 23 points on an efficient 10-15 shooting, four assists, three rebounds, and six steals. Kugel’s body control appears to have noticeably improved from a season ago as his finishing ability around the rim was impressive on Monday night. Kugel finished the game with a plus-minus of 33 and was a difference maker on both sides of the court.
“I thought he played really well,” Golden said on Kugel’s performance. “He did a great job of attacking downhill and did a really good job of putting the ball in the basket. I thought there were a couple more drives that maybe could have ended up at the foul line, but overall, 10-15. He does a great job reading the opportunity to go make a play on the ball. To get six steals is really impressive and that team, generally, is a pretty good ball handling team. They are pretty savvy. Their front court handles it really, really well, so it wasn’t like he was taking advantage or picking on anybody, he was just kind of being in the right place at the right time. That’s an area that he excels in.”
After the 16-0 start nearly six minutes into the game, the Gators were only able to outscore Loyola Maryland 77-73 in the final 34 minutes of action. Both the players and Golden claimed they fatigued as the game progressed.
“I don’t think we played as well as we had in the first couple of scrimmages, to be honest. I think a little jittery, a little bit of nerves that way,” Golden said on the Gators’ performance. “Defensively, we weren’t as physical as I thought we needed to be. Then, obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball well from the line at all. That can be an issue moving forward. It wasn’t tonight, but as we play the tougher teams on our schedule, we just have to take advantage of the line better than we did tonight.”
Florida was able to get to the free throw line 30 times in the contest but were successful on just 15 of their 30 attempts.
“We struggled a little bit that way in the scrimmages,” Golden said on the struggles from the FT line. [Walter Clayton Jr.] “I think is a little more of an aberration I don’t anticipate. I think he shot 97% from the foul line last year or something like that, so I don’t anticipate him having issues moving forward. But our front court has struggled a little bit that way. We will continue to address it. This team will get to the line more. We are a little more athletic. We have more opportunities to finish at the rim and we got to take advantage of those moments better than we did tonight.”
Nonetheless, the Gators were able to score 93 points including 22 fastbreak points on 58.1% shooting and 37.5% from three-point range.
NOTABLES
- Preseason All-SEC honoree Riley Kugel led the Florida attack with 23 points, including a 10-for-12 showing from two-point range. It marked his fourth career 20-point game and one point shy of matching his career high.
- Kugel’s career-high six steals marked the most by a Gator since Kevarrius Hayes had six in the NCAA Tournament vs. Virginia (3/16/17).
- Florida opened the game on a 16-0 run over the first six minutes.
- Eight players made their Florida debut, including transfers Walter Clayton Jr., Micah Handlogten, Julian Rishwain and Tyrese Samuel along with freshmen Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Kajus Kublickas.
- The Gators got double-figure scoring from Micah Handlogten (16), Tyrese Samuel (15) and Alex Condon (13). Samuel and Walter Clayton Jr. co-led the team with eight rebounds each, with Clayton adding a team-high five assists.
- Both Condon and Handlogten hit a pair of 3-pointers on their first two attempts from beyond the arc. Condon became the first Gator freshman with multiple 3-pointers in his debut since Andrew Nembhard (2 at FSU, 11/6/18).
- The Gators had 27 bench points in the contest and 54 points in the paint.
Next up for Florida: vs. Virginia at Charlotte (Hall of Fame Series), Friday, 7 p.m., ACC Network