Orange Bowl Classic
Amerant Bank Arena | Sunrise, Fla.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/12/9/2023.12.09_Florida_vs._Richmond.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 6-3; Richmond 5-5
Next up for Florida: vs. East Carolina (at Lakeland, Fla.), Florida Tip-Off, Thursday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m., SEC Network
Notable
* Will Richard scored 19 of his game-high and season-best 21 points in the second half to take home MVP honors. Richard went on a solo 9-0 run when he hit three 3-pointers in a 90-second span during the second half that helped stretch UF’s lead to 16.
* Tyrese Samuel recorded his third double-double of the season with 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end.
* The Gators dominated inside the arc on both ends of the floor, shooting 20-for-36 (.556) from 2-point range and limiting Richmond to 16-for-41 (.390).
* Florida continued its dominance on the glass, posting a 49-30 rebounding edge.
* The Gators returned to the starting five they used in the first five games of the season with Micah Handlogten back in the lineup. He grabbed 10 rebounds, his second double-figure rebounding game of the season.
* UF improves to 19-4 all-time in the Orange Bowl Classic, 1-0 under Todd Golden.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Just a huge win for us, one that I’m really, really happy about and am really proud of our group for the way we came out. I thought we did a great job of competing for 40 minutes. Defensively, we weren’t great in the second half, gave up 46. But to score 87 against that team is really impressive. They’ve done a good job defending, making it really hard for teams to get inside the 3[-point line] and execute. Obviously, we did a great job from the [free throw] line today, which has been an issue for our team. We shot 25 free throws and went 80 percent and dominated them on the glass, went plus-19. I thought that really started showing up in the second half. Didn’t take care of the ball well enough in the second half, but overall 14 assists, 12 turnovers, we’ll live. And then this young man next to me [Will Richard] just separated the game, just stepped up in a moment where we needed somebody to kind of take the game back. Had a 10-point lead at halftime, allowed that thing to go back down to four or five, and then my man went nuclear over here, hit three or four big shots in a row and just gave us our confidence back and allowed us to finish the game.”
On defending Richmond’s Jordan King…
“I thought we did a really, really good job from start to finish. Riley [Kugel] got the assignment for the first rotation, and with his size and athleticism he does a really good job of affecting littler guards because he can stay in their space and stay in their hip pocket. When Riley came out or when ZP [Zyon Pullin] went into the game, he did a fantastic job, as well, and I thought we just wore him down a little bit. We had two great defenders, good athletes on him. He never got to play in space, which is something that he’s really good at doing, especially off that ball screen. Those guys did a great job fighting over and getting back in front and allowing our bigs to drop and take away that two-man game in the middle of the floor. Even though [Neal] Quinn’s numbers were pretty good, I thought we did a good job on him wearing him down, getting him in foul trouble. He was minus-22 on the night, so obviously things were going our way when he was in the game.”
On Tyrese Samuel’s value to the team…
“He’s fantastic. He’s one that, the game just seems like it’s coming so easy to him, right? And when certain things happen, you might get frustrated, and then you look down after the game and you realize he has 18 [points] and 14 [rebounds], and you’re like, ‘Holy smokes, this guy had a monster, monster game.’ That’s kind of what happened tonight. He’s just a veteran, really understands where to get his baskets. He’s done a much better job lately from the foul line. Fourteen rebounds, five on the offensive glass. I thought he had some big second-chance opportunities for us that kind of allowed us to keep that lead in the second half. Getting Micah [Handlogten] back was huge for us, as well. We’ve really missed his presence, specifically on the glass, 10 rebounds for him today. But the one thing you might not see is that it just makes those freshmen, their lives easier coming in off the bench, Condo [Alex Condon] coming in, Tommy [Haugh] coming in. Obviously, Tommy’s minutes went down a little bit tonight, but we’ve always played well when Micah’s in the game, and he just makes our team better.”
Junior G Will Richard
On what enabled his second-half performance…
“Just staying aggressive within our offense. I wasn’t trying to force anything, but once I saw the first one go in I felt a little confidence and then just started trying to take the rest because I felt like they were good shots for us and for the team to get us going.”
On when he knows he’s about to go on a shooting streak…
“If I see first one go in, then I feel good the rest of the way. Seeing that first one go in just helped me a lot.”
