Here, Zack Weiss shares his five main thoughts/takeaways from the Gators' opening-night win over the Greyhounds.
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Five Thoughts on Florida's Win Over Loyola MD
- Thread starter Zack Weiss
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1) Riley Kugel needs to be aggressive... all the time... on both ends of the floor. I thought he looked lethargic and almost uninterested on both sides of the ball for most of the first half. Coming out of halftime, however, as expected, he got rolling. He started driving to the rim more and being more active defensively — and his final box score represented that. For this team to win big games against major opponents going forward, he's got to start games, as the star of this group, with a certain level of intensity that he didn't tonight.
2) The transfers combined for 43 of 93 points tonight (46.2%). Handlogten had 16, Samuel 15 and Clayton 9. All three of them are going to continue to be huge for this team going forward. Tonight was a fantastic start for the fresh faces.
3) It's not going to be one guy filling the hole left by Colin Castleton. The backcourt this year will be led by a committee. Tonight, Handlogten, Samuel and freshman Alex Condon all contributed very well. Going forward, unless one of them emerges well above the rest, their all going to need to continue to improve and produce so that this team has a respectable, if not formidable, paint presence.
4) Will Richard was a no-show, finishing with just three points on four shots. I wouldn't be overly worried about this going forward, but he's a massive part of this team and needs to play well going forward for it to reach its expectations. I'm looking very forward to seeing how he bounces back Friday.
5) I'm curious to see how Zyon Pullin meshes into this roation once he returns to the lineup. Walter Clayton Jr. was so good tonight, and Aberdeen played quite well in his minutes — particularly on the defensive end — it'll be interesting to see what types of lineups Golden comes out with including Pullin. Will he start with Clayton in a small-ball lineup? Will he start over Clayton? Will Aberdeen's minutes be in jeopardy? How will he mesh with Kugel and the bigs? As good as they looked tonight, there's still so much more to see with the Gators going forward.
