WATCH: Todd Golden reacts to his first win as Florida's coach
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Todd Golden era officially started Monday with Florida’s 81-45 win over Stony Brook in the 2022-23 season opener.
The 36-point margin of victory marked the largest in a Florida coaching debut, topping UF’s 34-point win in Tommy Bartlett’s debut (93-59 at Jacksonville on Dec. 1, 1966).
Two of Golden’s additions from the transfer portal, Alex Fudge (16 points) and Will Richard (14 points), combined for 30 points, while preseason first-team All-SEC selection Colin Castleton posted 13 points and blocked four shots.
The Gators had 13 different players score as they shot 48 percent from the floor and 40 percent beyond the arc, while holding the Seawolves to 31 percent shooting and just 21 percent from downtown.
Golden was hired by Florida after three seasons at San Francisco, where he compiled a 57-36 record and led the program to a pair of 20-win seasons in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
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His Dons went 24-10 last season, earning the program’s first NCAA tournament bid since 1998. Golden now looks to lead the Gators to the Big Dance after they missed it a year ago.
Todd Golden discusses his first UF win
Tolden Golden’s opening statement
“It feels great. I thought we did a really good job of playing with purpose for 40 minutes. They obviously went zone for 40, we weren’t exactly expecting that. We thought they would show it, but we weren’t expecting it for 40 minutes. It just changed the complexation and kind of the way the game was started. After the first eight minutes of the game, I thought we did a good job of not settling for quick threes and really work the ball into the high post.
“Alex did a great job attacking in the first half in the high post. Colin did a really good job finding good shots for us. And then in the second half, we went 7-10 because we took the right ones. We did a good job going inside out. All of our threes in the second half were off of catch and shoots. We didn’t finish as well in the second half, but we played with good purpose for 40. Every guy that came in did a good job of staying within themselves and continuing to guard and rebound, which was really important.”
