Florida Gators Men's Basketball Begins Their Season Against Loyola Tonight

Preseason All-SEC guard Riley Kugel now wears No. 2 for the Gators. (photo floridagators.com)

Year two of the Todd Golden era for Florida basketball tips off tonight when the Gators face Loyola (Maryland) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (8 p.m., SEC Network+), the second game of a doubleheader that features the UF women in their season opener against North Florida (5:30 p.m., SEC Network+). The Gators went 16-17 in Golden’s first year on the job, earning an NIT bid along the way. This is a totally revamped Florida roster that will feature five transfers and three freshmen to go with returnees Riley Kugel, Will Richard, Denzel Aberdeen and Aleks Szymczyk.

Golden has two legitimate scoring threats from last season in Riley Kugel (6-5, 207, SO), who averaged 17.3 points in Florida’s final 10 games a year ago, and Will Richard (6-4, 206, JR), the team’s second leading scorer at 10.4 per game. Kugel was selected preseason first team All-SEC by the league’s coaches. Richard, who often had to play power forward due to Florida’s vertical challenges, averaged 4.5 rebounds per game. He shot an impressive 39.8 percent on 3-pointers.

Transfers Walter Clayton Jr. (6-2, 195, JR) and Zyon Pullin (6-4, 206, GR) bring ball handling and scoring. Clayton (16.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists) was the leading scorer on Rick Pitino’s Iona team that made the NCAA Tournament last year. Clayton, who can play wing or point, hit a superb 43.1 percent of his 3-pointers. Pullin (18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists) isn’t a volume 3-point shooter, but he hit 39.4 percent on his 66 3-point attempts. Pullin will miss Florida’s first three games due to an NCAA suspension for playing in an NBA pre-draft game.

Adding depth to the perimeter are San Francisco transfer Julian Rishwain (6-5, 200, GR), returnee Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 190, SO) and Kajus Kublickas (6-2, 171, FR). Rishwain, who was recently given the okay to play after recovering from knee surgery, played for Golden at San Francisco where he was a career 35.6 percent 3-point shooter. Aberdeen played sparingly at the point last year, but is considered one of the most improved players on the team. Kublickas is a pure point who brings international experience from the Lithuanian national 19-and-under team.

Size and inside depth were issues a year ago, so Golden added transfer bigs Tyreese Samuel (6-10, 239, GR) from Seton Hall and Micah Handlogten (7-1, 235, SO) from Marshall. Samuel averaged 11 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in the rugged Big East last year, while Handlogten averaged 7.6 points and 9.8 rebounds for Marshall while blocking 75 shots, 11th nationally. Additionally, Golden brought in freshmen Alex Condon (6-11, 230) and Thomas Haugh (6-9, 205). Sophomore Aleks Szymczyk (6-10, 250) is recovering from a broken foot. He is recently out of a boot and could be practicing again by Thanksgiving and perhaps available to play around December 1.

Florida preview: Better shooting on the perimeter and depth on the interior were Golden’s priorities in the offseason and he addressed both issues in the transfer portal. Clayton and Pullin give the Gators outstanding firepower to go with Kugel and Richard. Other than Richard, the Gators lacked consistency from the outside a year ago. Kugel is a slasher who can volume score both off the bounce and outside when he gets hot. On the interior Samuel and Handlogten give UF size and experience. Handlogten and Condon are legitimate rim protectors whole Samuel is a power player who is very tough around the rim. Haugh has power forward size and small forward skills.

In two preseason closed door scrimmages, the Gators came away with impressive wins. Florida knocked off Miami, which returns most of its Final Four roster from a year ago, in Coral Gables, then followed that up with a blowout win over Florida International.

Although it’s a tougher schedule than a year ago with the likes of Virginia, Baylor and Michigan to go with Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas A&M, Missouri and Auburn from a Southeastern Conference that might be the toughest league in the country top to bottom, this should be a much-improved Florida team. Most preseason pundits predict the Gators will take the next step in their development by making the NCAA Tournament.

About the opponent: The Greyhounds of the Patriot League, who are coached by former Georgia Tech assistant Tavares Hardy, finished 13-20 a year ago. They were much improved from February onward, going 5-5 in their final 10 games.

Point guard Deon Perry is Loyola’s best player. He averaged 11.4 points per game as a freshman, but poured in 17.5 per game over the final 12 games. Alonzo Faure averaged 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds while Golden Dike averaged 6.7 points and 7.3 rebounds.

Probable starting lineups:

Loyola: PG Deon Perry (5-8, 160, SO); WG D’Angelo Stines (6-2, 185, JR); WG Tyson Commander (6-4, 185, SO); PF Alonzo Faure (6-10, 230, SR); C Golden Dike (6-10, 248, GR)

Florida: PG Walter Clayton Jr. (6-2, 195, JR); WG Riley Kugel (6-5, 207, SO); WG Will Richard (6-4, 206, JR); C Tyreese Samuel (6-10, 239, GR); PF Alex Condon (6-11, 230, FR)