By Kenneth Cross
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Coach Todd Golden solidified a quality Florida Gators roster as he used the transfer portal and added a pair of talented freshmen around athletic sophomore Riley Kugel. Golden and his staff developed a stringent eight-man rotation which has pulled Florida within two games of first place in the loss column after it’s impressive win over No. 11 Auburn, 81-65, on Saturday afternoon.
“They’re playing as well as anybody, Top-10 offense, Top-3 defense, and a lot of continuity on the roster, and a lot of really, really good players” explained Golden, of Auburn. “Then, we come out and play our best game of the year against them.”
Golden was an assistant to Coach Bruce Pearl in his first two seasons at Auburn. He then moved to San Francisco as an assistant coach followed by three seasons as the head coach. He led the Dons back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 25 years only two seasons ago.
Saturday afternoon gave the Gators their fifth win in the last six games which included overtime wins against Georgia and at Kentucky. The toughest area for the Gators has been to close games and Saturday, they never gave the Tigers any breathing room for the full 40 minutes.
“Obviously it’s in the same bucket as the Kentucky win, you know, it’s a great, great program-lifting win, but where I’m really proud of our team and our program is, as you all know, we’ve been playing really well,” commented Golden.
Riley Kugel was back in rare form as he scored 22 points and he was ablr to break away from a tough slump over the last five games where he only averaged 7.2 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
“I wouldn’t say struggles because I just call it learning lessons,” said Kugel. “Just got to get better off it. I know I let it slip. I can say that. But, I mean, each day I get better, my teammates help me get better and I’m thankful for everything I have.”
Golden was ecstatic to see Kugel once again put on a dominant show as he made three triples in his 29 minutes on the floor. Early in the second half, Kugel even scored seven points on two possessions as he made two three-pointers and was fouled on the second and he connected on a four-point play. Kugel’s assertion allowed the Gators to explode to a 64-35 advantage with 13:55 to play in the game.
“He’s done a really good job of getting comfortable with this role that he’s in, being our ‘sixth starter’ or whatever you want to call it,” Golden commented. “Obviously he played 29 minutes today, so he’s playing starter-level minutes, and, you know, he was super aggressive today.”
Kugel scored seven of his points in a 13-2 Florida run that saw the Gators open up a 26-9 lead with 9:11 left in the first half. His consistency in scoring vastly improved his confidence as he made 7-of-16 field goal attempts with the trio of three-pointers.
“We had a couple spans where some people were up and some people down, but ‘Kug’ was definitely the peace and positivity person this week,” noted guard Walter Clayton, Jr. “So, I think that’s a big reason why he had a great game.”
The Gators surprisingly did not score from the field in the last nine minutes and change, but were 8-of-9 from the line in being able to keep Auburn from coming back to challenge.
“We were playing well, we missed some tip-ins, some second chances,” said Golden. “I didn’t think we went too much stall mode. It was more of just missing some shots. We were still getting to the line. That ain’t gonna make me upset today, my boy.”
Meanwhile, Pearl lauded his former assistant in how he is rebuilding the Gators as well as their positive play.
“Playing the right way, playing really hard, playing together,” Pearl expressed. “They’re good. I root for them every single night except for when they play us.”
For Florida, Clayton finished with 20 points while Zyon Pullin added 19. Johni Broome led the Tigers with 14 points while KD Johnson added 12.