Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center | Gainesville, Fla.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/11/11/2539446.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/11/4/2024-25_UFstats.pdf> | Courtesy Photos & Press Conferences<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/rb8ojhaf9ygpi6d0k3c9e/ANF6-ow4Wppu1j1zjAsnMXA?rlkey=g1esu5ww8r31yd8dyekcik5iw&st=3b1ht5u5&dl=0>
Records: Florida 3-0; Grambling State 1-2
Next Up: Friday, 6 p.m., at Florida State, ACC Network
Notable
* The Gators used a balanced attack to take down Grambling State as all eight players who logged major minutes scored at least eight points, led by Rueben Chinyelu, who matched a career high with 14 points. It also marked Chinyelu’s first double-figure scoring game as a Gator.
* Florida enjoyed a +22 margin on the boards, out-rebounding the Tigers, 46-24, and posting an 18-2 advantage on second-chance points.
* Walter Clayton added 12 points, knocking down three 3-pointers. Clayton has now made a 3-pointer in 26 consecutive games.
* Will Richard added 12 points and nabbed a career-high five steals.
* Viktor Mikic and Kevin Pazmino made their Florida debuts, while Bennett Andersen and Cooper Josefsberg made their first appearances of the season.
* The win gives Todd Golden his 100th as a head coach, including 57 wins at San Francisco and 43 at Florida.
* UF has secured a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2021-22 season.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On winning the rebound battle…
“Yeah, it was awesome. I thought our guys did a great job of setting the tone that way. We talked a lot about it for the first couple games, we didn’t do a great job on the glass and we wanted to put an emphasis on that tonight against a team we think is pretty dang good, to be honest. They played really well last Friday and at Ole Miss, gave them all they wanted, had a second half lead of double digits and so for us to come in and kind of control the game the way we did, I thought said a lot and the emphasis we put on the glass was really good as well.”
On Rueben Chinyelu…
“Yeah it was huge. We’re counting on him and, as you know, the way we play we need all four of those frontcourt players to be effective and efficient. I thought he’s been kind of finding his way these first couple games. He’s been really good all summer and all fall and, again, new team, new situation for him. I thought it took him a little longer to get comfortable but again to your point tonight seven-for-eight from the field he definitely looked a lot more comfortable on the offensive end.”
On the balanced scoring effort…
“We talked about it in the locker room. This team is super unselfish, and they play for each other. I think a great example of that was Will Richard’s play in transition when he got the steal run-out and had the opportunity to go dunk it. Instead, he saw Rueben out of the back of his vison, dropped it off to him for a big dunk, which was a really, really unselfish play and speaks to our team. To your point, our eight guys who play around 20 minutes all scored [close to] double figures. When you have that type of ability to spread it out, it makes you a lot more effective.”
