Next up: vs. Stetson, Sunday, 2 p.m., SEC Network
Notable
* Trey Bonham scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half, and he tied a Florida record by knocking down seven 3-pointers without a miss (Matt Walsh, 12/28/02 vs. Bethune-Cookman).
* Kowacie Reeves scored a season-high 19 points, moving back into the starting lineup for the fifth time this season. He scored 15 in the first half, including three 3-pointers and two dunks. He added a third dunk in the second half.
* Alex Fudge posted his first career double-double and scored all 16 of his points and grabbed nine of his 10 rebounds in the second half. He matched a career high in scoring and threw down four dunks.
* Florida forced three shot clock violations throughout the game, and UF posted a pair of 14-0 runs in the second half, along with an early 12-0 run.
* Riley Kugel made his first collegiate start on his 19th birthday and finished with six points, two rebounds and an assist.
* Kugel is the first freshman to start under Todd Golden, and a freshman has now started at least one game for UF in six straight seasons and 15 of the last 16 seasons – every season since 2007-08 except 2016-17.
* Aleks Szymczyk scored his first career points, and Denzel Aberdeen added his first collegiate field goal.
* Florida played the game without two starters, missing second-leading scorer Will Richard (knee) and starting point guard Kyle Lofton (back). Both Richard and Lofton are day-to-day.
* Florida cracked the 100-point mark for the first time since a 104-98 2OT win vs. Alabama (1/4/20). It was the first time over 100 points in regulation since a 102-63 win vs. Long Beach State (12/29/19).
* The Gators had five players in double figures for the first time since six went for 10+ on 11/28/21 vs. Troy.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On Kowacie’s minutes…
“With Will [Richard] and Kyle [Lofton] out, it provided opportunities for others. We’ll keep it simple like that. Again, it’s a fluid year. It’s a fluid rotation right now for us. We had moments early where we played really well, other moments where we weren’t, and then I thought we had a really good stretch after the Florida State second half moving through most of that tournament in Portland until, obviously, the West Virginia game. Most importantly, the way I think about it is, [Kowacie Reeves] had an opportunity tonight and he took advantage of it. I’m really proud of him for that. I know it’s been a tough couple of days on him not playing as much as he wants, and I want him to be upset about it. He’s a competitor, a great young man. So, for me to see him go out and get off to such a great start, I hope that it allows him to continue to build confidence. I think of [Kowacie] as a guy that will be an impactful player for us moving forward, especially if he can play at this level, which I think he’s capable of. Sometimes things don’t go your way, sometimes they do and the big thing for me whether it’s for myself, my family, my staff, or my program it’s all about taking advantage of the opportunities you get, and I think Kowacie did that tonight and Niles [Lane] was solid as well.”
On bouncing back after last game’s loss…
“We practiced hard yesterday. Usually, I think that’s been an area where I probably haven’t done a good enough job. I like to usually be light the day before the game and just kind of air on the side of being fresh and guys flying around. Transparently, after the way we played in the second half against West Virginia, I wasn’t worried about being fresh tonight, I wanted to make sure we were right, and I wanted to make sure we were competing at a high level. I wanted to make sure we were hitting guys. I wanted to make sure that we were executing well, so we practiced hard. We played 5-on-5 yesterday, which we usually don’t do the day before games. We did rebounding drills. We did full court defensive drills. We just were really trying to ramp up our competitiveness to make sure that we were ready to go that way. The thing that I’m most proud of is the effort tonight. We obviously shot the ball really well, some guys filled it up, but I thought we competed well, I thought we executed well, and I thought we played hard for 40 minutes. We didn’t have any momentary lapses or times where I thought our competitive energy wasn’t where it needed to be. Something I think we can build off of and hopefully continue to use this as a building block for our game against Stetson on Sunday.”
On transition defense…
“Usually, we crash pretty hard to the offensive glass, and I didn’t think we were getting enough bang for our buck in that sense. We kind of pulled a guy or two off to really load up to make sure we had enough guys, enough bodies back and make sure our communication was good that way. If this is right, hopefully we grew there if we only gave up two fastbreak points. We’ll go back and watch it to make sure. It was definitely trending in a better direction tonight.”
Junior G Trey Bonham
On practice leading into the game performance…
“We competed from the jump, we knew it was going to happen, it began in practice. That mindset was just that fire coming off of the last game in Portland lead to this game.”
On summer emphasis…
“My main focus this off-season, I’ve always been a pretty good finisher at the rim, so adding the three point, just getting my release quicker, that was really what I worked on this summer.”
On players playing a variety of minutes…
“I feel like our team chemistry is really, really good. We know were a deep team. We feel like ten people can start on our team so, we knew that rotations were going to be difficult coming into this year. We all want to play, but we all want to see our brothers succeed at the same time so just being ready when your names called, that’s all you can do.”
Sophomore F Alex Fudge
On the double-double…
“Coach told me going out of halftime, if you’re going to play, play with a purpose. So I just came out and played basketball, had fun.”
On bouncing back from Portland…
“After the West Virginia game, you just got to look back at the game and know this was probably the most embarrassing thing that happened to us, and that’s not a feeling that we ever want to have again. So, it was just the will to compete today, knowing that we just went through what happened Sunday, now we just want to bounce back. That’s the word for us just bounce back, we the bounce back team, and we for sure are going to get to it.”
Sophomore G Kowacie Reeves
On trusting Coach Golden…
“I just got to trust coach in whatever decisions he makes moving forward because that’s what’s going to help us win. We’re figuring things out, I can’t fault him for making decisions which he thinks are best for trying to win games.”
On early aggressive mentality….
“The fire as a competitor, the will to know you did all of this preparation and all of this work to get here, so why not do what’s in the best interest for you and showcase that, and try to impact winning, especially after Portland.”
