Gators hoops hosting a pair of priority transfer targets
St. Bonaventure transfers Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi are officially visiting the Gators on Thursday, according to a social media post from Lofton.
Lofton shared a video on his Instagram story from inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
After four seasons with the Bonnies, Lofton and Osunniyi entered the portal last Thursday. Lofton is also going through the NBA Draft evaluation process while retaining his college eligibility.
Lofton averaged 12.8 points and 5.9 assists last season and played 38.5 minutes per game, despite missing most of December with a high left ankle sprain. He scored 1,613 points and had 604 assists in four seasons.
Osunniyi is Bona’s all-time leader in blocked shots (305), and the 6-foot-10 center scored 1,100 points and had 898 rebounds in four seasons. He averaged 11.3 points, 7.5 boards and 2.9 blocks last season.
Gators busy in the portal
First-year Florida coach Todd Golden has landed a trio of transfers in Alex Fudge (LSU), Trey Bonham (VMI) and Will Richard (Belmont).
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UF is also targeting former Mississippi State commit Riley Kugel, who visited on April 15.
During his introductory press conference on March 23, Golden discussed what he’s looking for when recruiting via the transfer portal.
“Really good players,” Golden quipped. “Guys that have achieved at a high level in their previous spot. There’s usually a lot of variables and different things that go into these decisions, whether it was a coach leaving, whether it was just an uncomfortable situation, whatever it is. There’s a lot of guys in the portal. In the past transferring has had a negative connotation. People have thought of transferring as something that’s negative and speaks to a lack of continuity in the program, things of that nature.
“I don’t look at it that way. I think these guys are young men. They’re allowed to make decisions like this, and so we’re going to vet them the same way that we would vet high school kids. We’re going to talk to them. We’re going to talk to their families. If they’re transferring usually former coaches to see this there’s a reason. You can find a lot of special kids student athletes in the portal that can fit within the makeup of your program if you look hard.”
