Hoops Central: What you need to know about the new-look Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 2023-24 season has arrived for the new-look Gators. Florida is back in the O’Dome on Monday at 8 p.m. for its opener against Loyola Maryland.

Second-year coach Todd Golden revamped the roster in the offseason, adding eight new scholarship players to join the team’s four returners, led by Riley Kugel and Will Richard.

Kugel, who decided to return for his sophomore season instead of entering the NBA Draft, is a preseason first-team All-SEC selection and Jerry West Award Watch List honoree.

Golden and his staff signed one of the top transfer classes in the nation, landing a trio of guards in Walter Clayton Jr., Zyon Pullin and Julian Rishwain along with the frontcourt duo of Micah Handlogten and Tyrese Samuel.

“Obviously, I’m more confident now going into next year with this group we’ve been able to assemble,” Golden told Gators Online. “I feel like we’re balanced. I feel like we have good depth and most importantly, we have pieces that mesh well together. We didn’t just go out and say, ‘Alright, we’ll get talent, talent, talent and try to figure it out.’

“I feel like we did a good job of balancing our frontcourt, we balanced our backcourt. We have shooters, we have playmakers, we have defenders, rebounders, we have guys that will play well together, which I think is the most important thing.”

Pullin is projected to start at point guard but must serve a three-game suspension for participating in a pre-draft showcase. With him sidelined, Clayton, Handlogten and Samuel will join Kugel and Richard in the starting lineup Monday.

Point guard Denzel Aberdeen and forward Aleks Szymczyk also return as sophomores. Aberdeen is Florida’s most improved player on the roster and will crack the rotation this year, while Szymczyk is still recovering from a broken foot.

The Gators also welcome three freshmen from their 2023 recruiting class with 6-foot-9 forward Thomas Haugh from Pennsylvania, 6-foot-11 Australian Alex Condon and Lithuanian point guard Kajus Kublickas joining the program.

After adding just five players to the 2022-23 roster he inherited, all 13 players on this year’s squad were recruited by Golden and his staff.

“We knew we were going to have to have a strong transfer class going into year two for us to be successful,” Golden said. “It was really important for a few reasons. We knew we needed to get bigger, we knew we need to get stronger, and we knew we needed to get deeper.

“I think we addressed all three of those things and obviously getting Walt, Zyon and Julian for the backcourt was huge as well. So, it was needed. We knew we needed to get better in a lot of areas, and I feel like at this point we’ve addressed our needs.”

SEC media voters picked the Gators to finish eighth in the conference. That’s where UF placed in the 2023 SEC standings, posting a 16-17 record with a 9-9 mark in league play.

Florida missed the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and aims to make the Big Dance this season under Golden, who has added two more members to his staff.

With the NCAA’s expansion of basketball coaching staffs, the Gators hired assistant coaches John Andrzejek and Taurean Green to their on-court staff with associate head coaches Carlin Hartman and Korey McCray and assistant coach Kevin Hovde.

Numbers of note

3,793: Florida’s five transfers bring a combined 3,793 career points scored to the Gators, led by Zyon Pullin’s 1,312 over his four seasons at UC Riverside.

17.3: Sophomore guard Riley Kugel, who earned SEC All-Freshman honors, finished the season with 10 straight games in double figures, averaging 17.3 points over that final stretch.

24: With 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten joining the Gators this season, it marks the first time in 24 seasons Florida has had a 7-footer on its roster (1989-90, Dwayne Schintzius)

Projected starting lineup

G Walter Clayton Jr., junior

2022-23 stats: Averaged 16.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in 32 appearances (31 starts)

Best game: 30 points on 12-for-23 shooting (4-for-8 from 3) in a 72-55 win at Niagara

Todd Golden: “Walt’s just a proven, high volume, highly efficient scorer. One of the better shooters in the country and has a really good ability to play out of a ball screen also. I think he’s a great combo guard that could play either spot. He can play the point and do it very well. Obviously with Zyon Pullin, you’ll probably see him more off the ball to start but I think he’ll have plenty of opportunities where he’s playing with the ball in his hands and making plays for others as well.”

G Riley Kugel, sophomore

2022-23 stats: 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 32 appearances (17 starts)

Best game: 24 points on 7-for-12 shooting (4-for-6 from 3) in a 82-74 loss at Kentucky

Todd Golden: “I think with Riley you’re gonna see a more refined product than what you saw at the end of last year. Obviously his talent was popping. You know, his draft status was skyrocketing. And now going into sophomore year, I think his approach is more professional. Everything he’s doing on a day-to-day basis tells me that he’s in line to have a really, really good year. And I think the way he’s attacking it and being a leader has been really beneficial for us.”

G Will Richard, junior

2022-23 stats: Averaged 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 32 appearances (30 starts)

Best game: 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting (5-for-8 from 3) in an 77-67 win at Georgia

Todd Golden: “I think what Will was able to do for us in year one was really impressive. I don’t know if any of us expected him to have as much success on an individual level as he did. Just his shooting percentages and his consistency was really important. And I think you’re going to see a guy that’s even more comfortable this year. He’ll be even stronger, even more athletic. He spent a lot of time with Vic in the weight room working on his body and just his confidence level will continue to rise.”

F Tyrese Samuel, grad transfer

2022-23 stats: 11 points and 5.9 rebounds in 33 starts

Best game: 14 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks in a 70-69 win over Memphis.

Todd Golden: “I feel like with Tyrese, he was a really good player being in the Big East and being a double-figure scorer playing on some really good Seton Hall teams. He’s a guy who we knew what he was capable of and that he would be a pretty seamless plug-and-play at this level and he’s been what we thought he was. He’s been very consistent, a great young man and just a really talented player, someone who can score the ball when you don’t have great offense going and he’s a guy who can make a play for you in the frontcourt, which, we had Colin last year but outside of that we didn’t have much. He’s been great.”

C Micah Handlogten, sophomore

2022-23 stats: Averaged 7.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in 32 starts

Best game: 19 points, 19 rebounds, five blocks and two steals in a 81-66 win over Coastal Carolina

Todd Golden: “We knew we needed a number of guys in the frontcourt and Micah, his analytical profile is incredibly impressive. One of the best shot blockers in America as a freshman, one of the best rebounders in America as a freshman, shot 71 percent from the field. I mean, it’s a pretty, pretty good profile to have. And the great thing about him is I feel like he still has a lot of areas to grow. He can keep getting better and better and better. … When he got here, we could see the talent and the potential with the size and he runs really well, really fluid athlete but the physicality was a lot for him early. But over the course of the six weeks of summer and the first few weeks of fall, he’s in there being super physical and really taking on that challenge of matching the physicality. He’s a guy that I expect to have a great year.” 

Pregame coverage

5 things to look forward to with the 2023-24 Florida Gators team
5 things to know about the Florida Gators star guard Riley Kugel
10 notable quotes from Florida Gators basketball preseason camp
Meet Florida basketball’s talented and versatile transfer additions
What national media is saying about Florida Gators men’s basketball
Todd Golden ‘more comfortable and confident’ in Year 2 at Florida
Golden says first two games will be ‘a good litmus test’ for Gators

Florida returners

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	Min.	Pts.	Reb.
2	Riley Kugel	G	6-5	207	So.	23.0	9.9	2.8
5	Will Richard	G	6-4	206	Jr.	27.8	10.4	4.5
11	Denzel Aberdeen	G	6-5	190	So.	3.4	1.6	0.3
13	Aleks Szymczyk	F	6-10	250	So.	7.7	2.1	1.3

2023 transfer class

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	Min.	Pts.	Reb.
0	Zyon Pullin	G	6-4	206	Gr.	33.9	18.3	4.4
1	Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2	195	Jr.	30.3	16.8	4.3
3	Micah Handlogten	C	7-1	235	So.	25.3	7.6	9.8
4	Tyrese Samuel	F	6-10	239	Gr.	23.9	11.0	5.9
23	Julian Rishwain	G	6-5	200	Gr.	19.9	5.0	2.4

RELATED: ‘Portal God Todd’: Golden talks transfer class that earned him his nickname

2023 freshmen class

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown	HS
10	Thomas Haugh	F	6-9	210	New Oxford, Pa.	Perkiomen School
21	Alex Condon	C	6-11	230	Perth, Australia	BA Centre of Excellence-NBA Global Academy
30	Kajus Kublickas	G	6-2	171	Kaunas, Lithuania	Zalgiris II

RELATED: Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh join offseason workouts after enrolling early

2023-24 Florida Gators schedule

Nov. 6	Monday	LOYOLA MARYLAND	GAINESVILLE, FL
Nov. 10	Friday	vs. Virginia (Hall of Fame Series)	Charlotte, NC
Nov. 14	Tuesday	FLORIDA A&M	GAINESVILLE, FL
Nov. 17	Friday	FLORIDA STATE	GAINESVILLE, FL
Nov. 22	Wednesday	Baylor/Pitt/Oregon State (NIT Tip-Off)	Brooklyn
Nov. 24	Friday	Baylor/Pitt/Oregon State (NIT Tip-Off)	Brooklyn
Nov. 29	Wednesday	at Wake Forest (ACC/SEC Challenge)	Winston-Salem, NC
Dec. 5	Tuesday	MERRIMACK	GAINESVILLE, FL
Dec. 9	Saturday	vs. Richmond (Orange Bowl Classic)	Sunrise, Fla.
Dec. 14	Thursday	vs. East Carolina (Florida Tip-Off)	Lakeland, Fla.
Dec. 19	Tuesday	vs. Michigan (Jumpman Invitational)	Charlotte, NC
Dec. 22	Friday	GRAMBLING STATE	GAINESVILLE, FL
Dec. 30	Saturday	QUINNIPIAC	GAINESVILLE, FL
Jan. 6	Saturday	KENTUCKY	GAINESVILLE, FL
Jan. 10	Wednesday	Ole Miss	Oxford, MS
Jan. 13	Saturday	ARKANSAS	GAINESVILLE, FL
Jan. 16	Tuesday	Tennessee	Knoxville, TN
Jan. 20	Saturday	Missouri	Columbia, MO
Jan. 24	Wednesday	MISSISSIPPI STATE	GAINESVILLE, FL
Jan. 27	Saturday	GEORGIA	GAINESVILLE, FL
Jan. 31	Wednesday	Kentucky	Lexington, KY
Feb. 3	Saturday	Texas A&M	College Station, TX
Feb. 10	Saturday	AUBURN	GAINESVILLE, FL
Feb. 13	Tuesday	LSU	GAINESVILLE, FL
Feb. 17	Saturday	Georgia	Athens, GA
Feb. 21	Wednesday	Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL
Feb. 24	Saturday	VANDERBILT	GAINESVILLE, FL
Feb. 28	Wednesday	MISSOURI	GAINESVILLE, FL
March 2	Saturday	South Carolina	Columbia, SC
March 5	Tuesday	ALABAMA	GAINESVILLE, FL
March 9	Saturday	Vanderbilt	Nashville, TN