Sunshine Showdown presented by Fresh from Florida
Donald L. Tucker Civic Center
Tallahassee, Fla. | Nov. 18, 2022 | 8 p.m.
TV
ACC Network
PxP: Mike Couzens | Analyst: Malcolm Huckaby
Streaming on the ESPN app
Radio
Gators Sports Network from LEARFIELD | SiriusXM 390/SXM App 980
PxP: Sean Kelley | Analyst: Lee Humphrey
Gators at a Glance
* Florida makes the trip to Tallahassee for the Sunshine Showdown presented by Fresh from Florida, as the Gators look for their first road win in the series since Dec. 5, 2012.
* It marks the first road game for the Gators under head coach Todd Golden and will be the Gators’ lone true road contest before SEC play and one of two in nonconference action (Jan. 28 at Kansas State).
* Colin Castleton has opened the season on fire and is coming off 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 is the first since Anthony Roberson in Jan. 2005 to do so, and no player in Florida history has tallied three straight 30-point games.
* Castleton is also 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.
* Will Richard has been a consistent and efficient offensive contributor early on for the Gators, scoring 14 or more in all three games while shooting .583 from the field and 5-for-9 from 3-point range.
* Alex Fudge posted a career-high 16 points off the bench in his debut for the Gators.
* 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. Jacksonville native Alex Fudge looks to make a jump after limited opportunities during his freshman season at LSU
* 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.
