Phil Knight Legacy | Quarterfinals
Veterans Memorial Coliseum | Portland, Ore.
Nov. 24, 2022 | 5:30 p.m. EST
TV
ESPN2
PxP: Doug Sherman | Analyst: Cory Alexander | Reporter: Brooke Weisbrod
Streaming on the ESPN app
Radio
Gators Sports Network from LEARFIELD | SiriusXM 386/SXM App 976
PxP: Kyle Crooks | Analyst: Lee Humphrey
Gators at a Glance
* Florida returns to Portland for the Phil Knight Legacy on the heels of a comeback win at rival Florida State. The Gators are led by two-time All-SEC big man Colin Castleton, who has posted 29.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game over the past three contests.
* Will Richard has provided complementary scoring from the wing, tallying at least 13 points in every game while shooting .545 from the field, .462 from 3-point range and a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line.
* The Gators were runners up in their bracket in the original PK80, defeating Gonzaga in a double-overtime semifinal shootout before falling to top-ranked Duke in the championship game.
* UF’s 19-point rally at Florida State marked the fourth-largest in team history and the largest on the road since a 22-point comeback at South Carolina on Feb. 24, 1993. Castleton scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half.
* Colin Castleton has opened the season on fire and posted back-to-back 30-point outings, notching a career-best 33 vs. Kennesaw State and 30 vs. FAU. An individual has recorded back-to-back 30-point games nine times in UF history and Castleton is the seventh different player to accomplish the feat. He was the first since Anthony Roberson in Jan. 2005 to do so (see page 6 for full list).
* Castleton became the first Gator with a 30-point double-double since Joakim Noah (37/11 vs. Georgia, 3/1/06) and the only SEC player since the 1996-97 season with 30 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots in a game, a stat line he accomplished vs. FAU.
* Kowacie Reeves has opened the season in the starting five, and he stepped up with a pair of late 3-pointers in the win vs. Kennesaw State. Reeves is looking to build off a strong postseason, when he averaged 16.3 points over the Gators’ three tournament games, including a career-best 21 vs. Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.
* Grad point guard Kyle Lofton (Saint Bonaventure), a three-time All-A-10 player who scored 1,613 points in four seasons with the Bonnies, came to Florida via the transfer portal. UF also brings in a trio of transfers who all have three years of eligibility remaining: junior Trey Bonham (VMI), sophomore Alex Fudge (LSU) and sophomore Will Richard (Belmont).
* Bonham averaged 11.3 points over two seasons at VMI, and Richard averaged 12.1 per game during his freshman campaign at Belmont, while the bouncy Jacksonville native Alex Fudge looks to make a sophomore leap.
* UF also added a pair of freshmen who shared a backcourt at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School in Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel, along with big man Aleks Szymczyk out of Frankfurt, Germany.
* Golden took the lead at Florida after three seasons as head coach at San Francisco. He compiled a 57-36 record with the Dons and led them to their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998 and their first at-large selection since 1982.
* Carlin Hartman joined the Florida staff as associate head coach, bringing 22 years of collegiate coaching experience including five seasons on Lon Kruger’s staff at Oklahoma. Korey McCray also comes to UF as associate head coach, bringing experience at Mississippi State, LSU and UCLA to the Gators. Assistant coach Kevin Hovde rounds out the coaching staff, coming from his alma mater Richmond after coaching five seasons with Golden at San Francisco.
