Analyzing Todd Golden's Nitpicks After Florida's Season Opener Victory

As you might expect, Todd Golden found plenty of things to nitpick after Florida’s 93-73 season opening win over Loyola (MD) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. He would have preferred if the Gators had hit a higher percentage of their free throws (15-30), played with more physicality at both ends of the floor, with a bit more consistency defensively and with far more intensity from start to finish.

A better all-around effort would have been nice, but considering his 7-1 transfer center nailed a pair of threes and his 6-11 freshman from Australia hit his first two from downtown, not to mention next June’s future first round draft pick looked very much like he could go lottery, the good, it would seem, completely outweighed the things that have to be improved upon.

Golden is right, however, that the Gators could have and probably should have played better, but it was the first game of the year. There are five transfers and three freshmen that are new pieces of the puzzle that should make this team better than the one that went 16-17 and made it to the NIT last year. With so many moving parts that still have to fit together, it’s easy to see flaws and room for improvement everywhere you look. Still, when Marshall transfer Micah Handlogten is shocking even his teammates by nailing 3-balls from the top of the key and Alex Condon is popping in threes in his collegiate debut while looking nothing like a kid from Down Under who only picked up the game four years ago, there is reason to be happy.

Riley Kugel - 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 steals and 1 blocked shot | Photo Chris Spears

That Riley Kugel picked up where he left off the last 10 games of last season by going off for 23 points, three rebounds, four assists, six steals and a blocked shot should be reason for Golden to be downright giddy. About the only thing Kugel didn’t do was knock down a three, but nobody really noticed because he showed that he’s more than capable of getting any shot he wants any time he wants. Plus, he’s so bouncy that every time he gets anywhere near the rack it’s an opportunity for a highlight reel play.

Condon hits threes in practice, so while it was impressive that a newbie has such a confident stroke first time on the floor in a game that counts it was nothing teammates haven’t seen before. Handlogten? Different story altogether.

“Micah, he didn't shoot one all year so when I saw him shoot both and make both, I was kind of like, woah, he really makes them,” Seton Hall transfer Tyreese Samuel said. Samuel had an impressive night himself, scoring 15 with eight rebounds and three assists in his Gator debut, but seeing Handlogten taking and making wide open threes was a very big deal. “He made two in a row so I was like, okay, keep on shooting them, I don't mind.”

Then there was Kugel, the guy expected to take his game to a different level if the Gators are to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. He was explosive, unselfish and intense. He got in the lane when he wanted to, absorbed enough contact to get maybe 10 more free throws than the four the zebra crew awarded, and put the ball in the hole.

Golden was impressed with Kugel’s 10-15 shooting night and the way he attacked the rim but the defensive effort seemed to please him most about his talented sophomore.

“You know, to get six steals is really impressive, and that team is generally a really good ballhandling team,” Golden said. “You know, their front court handles it really well, and it wasn’t like he was taking advantage of picking on anybody. He was just being in the right place at the right time, but that’s an area that he excels in.”

Kugel will be the centerpiece for the Gators, but overall, from top to bottom of the roster, there is more talent to go with more size and depth up front than last year, and it will be a vastly superior shooting team. Nobody is going to expect Condon and Hanglogten to combine to go 4-5 from the 3-point line every night out, but they both showed they’re capable if left alone. Handlogten scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and added a steal and a blocked shot. Condon had 13 points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal. The fourth big who played, freshman Thomas Hauck, scored six points and grabbed three rebounds in his Florida debut.

With Cal-Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin serving the first of a 3-game NCAA-mandated suspension, Iona transfer and Lake Wales native Walter Clayton handled the point most of the night backed up by sophomore Denzel Aberdeen. Clayton finished with nine points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Aberdeen had three points and a pair of assists off the bench and San Francisco transfer Julian Rishwain, playing limited minutes while he works himself back into shape after knee surgery, nailed a three.

It was an off night for Will Richard, limited to four shots and three points, but this was a night when his offense wasn’t necessary. Everybody knows Richard can heat up microwave quick.

With perennial power Virginia next on the Florida agenda Friday night in Charlotte, Golden knows the Gators have some things to tighten up over the next couple of practice days, particularly when it comes to defense and maintaining the intensity. The Gators bolted to a 16-0 lead in the first 5:47 of the game, largely on a defense that overwhelmed the visiting Greyhounds, but once past that initial burst, the first half was played fairly evenly until the intermission.

“The game after the first two minutes never got into a moment of where we were super stressed about the outcome, but that can’t be a reason why we relax and don’t play the way we need to the rest of the way,” Golden said.

With a 42-30 lead at halftime, the Gators came out firing and playing with renewed intensity to start the second half. They stretched the 12-point margin to 26 (69-43) at the 12:38 mark of the second half, but they pretty much put it on cruise control from that point onward. The result was a 20-point win, but Golden knows it could have been and should have been much worse.

Based on what he saw in Florida’s two preseason, closed-door scrimmages, Golden expected a better effort against Loyola. The Gators beat Miami, which returned most of its players from a Final Four run a year ago, in Coral Gables, then followed it up a week later with a blowout win over Florida International at the O-Dome.

Comparitively speaking, the win over Loyola didn’t measure up.

“I don’t think we played as well as we had in the first couple of scrimmages, to be honest,” Golden said. “I think [we were] a little jittery, a little bit of nerves that way. Defensively, we weren’t as physical as I thought we needed to be and then, obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball well from the line at all. And, you know, that can be an issue moving forward. It wasn’t tonight but, you know, as we play the tougher teams on our schedule, we just have to take advantage of the line better than we did tonight.”

It was a win and while 20 points looks solid in the scorebooks, Golden knows margin of victory does matter when it comes to making the 64-team NCAA field. It’s not just about getting to a certain number of wins, it has everything to do with winning big. Not only can you not afford to lose pre-conference games against teams from weaker conferences, when you do win, it needs to be by as big a margin as possible.

It can mean the difference between the NCAA and the NIT.

“The thing about college basketball, we only get 32 games promised, right?” Golden said. So it’s not like the NBA where you can take a night off with load management. It can cost you a tournament big if you have an off night that way, and one of the things that we talk to our team about a lot is approaching every game as if it’s the national championship. You gotta put your best foot forward.

“The way teams are evaluated now with KenPom and NET Rankings, margin of victory matters a lot. So, I’m coaching these guys in the last four minutes like it’s the first four minutes of the game.”

Stats: Florida shot 58.1 percent (36-62) for the game and 37.5 percent (6-16) from the 3-point line. The Gators outrebounded Loyola 39-29. The Gators outscored the Greyhounds 21-12 on points off turnovers, 54-34 in the paint and 22-8 on fast breaks. After turning the ball over eight times in the first half, the Gators committed only three more in the second half. Loyola shot 45.8 percent from the field overall (27-59) and 34.6 percent on 3-pointers (9-26).

UF women’s basketball: Florida 82, North Florida 65

Leilani Correa scored 21 points while Ra Shaya Kyle and Aliyah Matharu scored 15 each as the Gators opened their season with a 17-point win over North Florida. The Gators led only 32-26 at the half, but they put together 50 points in the second half to win going away.

In addition to her 21 points, Correa had five rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and two steals. Kyle had a game-high 12 rebounds to go with a blocked shot and a steal, while Matharu had a pair of assists and two steals.

The Gators shot 34-71 (47.9 percent) from the field, but only 2-12 from the 3-point line. The Gators outrebounded North Florida 40-33 and forced 20 turnovers which were converted into 23 points.

The Gators will be home against Bethune-Cookman Thursday at the O-Dome.