Bounce-back game by Riley Kugel leads Gators to first SEC win
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After meeting with Riley Kugel and “getting back on the same page” this week, Florida coach Todd Golden expected his preseason first-team All-SEC selection to play really well against Arkansas. Kugel came through on Saturday.
After going scoreless in four minutes played at Ole Miss and getting benched in the second half, Kugel bounced back with his fourth 20-point performance of the season. The sophomore guard scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Gators to their first SEC win, 90-68, over the Razorbacks.
“The reality is we’re not the best versions of ourselves unless Riley Kugel is playing well and you guys can see with your own eyes today,” Golden said afterward. “The way he attacked the game, you can tell from the jump that this guy was going to have a good effort, a good night and he just played incredibly well. … When he plays like that obviously our ceiling gets a lot higher.”
Up 46-33 at the break, the Gators pulled ahead by 20 points at the 16:46 mark and led by that margin for the majority of the second period, stretching their lead to 25 points late. Kugel was one of five Gators in double figures, along with graduate transfers Tyrese Samuel (17) and Zyon Pullin (16) and junior guards Will Richard (13) and Walter Clayton Jr. (11).
It marked the fourth time this season where five UF players scored 10 or more points. Samuel grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds to record his seventh double-double of the season.
“‘Rese, 17 and 11 — goodness, we’ve been missing that,” Golden said. “‘Rese is one of our best guys.”
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Samuel added, “It was big. It was a confidence booster and I needed that.”
Florida outrebounded the Hogs 48-31 and had a much better defensive performance, holding them to 38 percent from the floor (23 of 61) and 33 percent from 3 (5 of 15). Arkansas also had five players finish in double figures, led by freshman guard Layden Blocker with 14 points.
The Gators jumped out to a 27-9 lead with an 22-2 run, featuring a 3-pointer by Samuel and this emphatic slam by Kugel. After falling behind by 19, the Razorbacks switched a zone defense and responded with a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to nine points. However, they trailed by double digits for the last four minutes of the first half and the entire second period.
“We had to really improve our second half defense,” Golden said. “That was an area that has really been an issue of us during the course of the year. We held them to 36 percent in the second half, only one made 3. I thought that was really big growth from our guys and from our program. This is our most complete performance of the year today.”
Florida (11-5, 1-2 SEC) is back on the road Tuesday night at No. 5 Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC). Tip is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN.
