Florida vs Kennessaw State (Friday, 7 pm)

Florida vs. Kennesaw State

* When: Friday, 7 p.m.
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (1-0); Kennesaw State (1-0)
* TV: SEC Network+ (Kyle Crooks and Patric Young)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Sean Kelley and Lee Humphrey)

Projected Starters

Fifth-year senior point guard **Kyle Lofton** was one of seven players to make their UF debuts Monday against Stony Brook.

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
CJ Felder	F	6-7 / 240	Senior	4.0 ppg / 5.0 rpg
Colin Castleton	F	6-11 / 231	R-Senior	13 ppg / 5.0 rpg / 4.0 bpg
Kowacie Reeves	G	6-6 / 192	Sophomore	8.0 ppg / 2.0 rpg
Will Richard	G	6-5 / 175	Sophomore	14 ppg / 3.0 rpg
Kyle Lofton	G	6-3 / 188	Graduate	7.0 ppg / 2.0 apg

Kennesaw State	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Peterson	F	6-7 / 218	Senior	8.0 ppg / 0.0 rpg
Brandon Stroud	G	6-6 / 200	Junior	5.0 ppg / 4.0 rpg
Chris Youngblood	G	6-4 / 218	Junior	20.0 ppg / 8.0 rpg
Spencer Rodgers	G	6-4 / 188	Senior	7.0 ppg / 4.0 rpg / 4.0 spg
Terrell Burden	G	5-10 / 170	Senior	19.7 ppg / 7.0 rpg / 7.0 apg

The Breakdown

Fifth-year senior forward **Colin Castleton** (12)

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

The second game of the season for both teams. ... Florida opened the 2022-23 slate Monday night with an 81-45 beating of Stony Brook, the Gators' first game under Coach Todd Golden. Kennesaw State, out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, also made its season debut Monday, defeating Division II LaGrange (Ga.) College 99-56. ... This will be the first meeting between the two programs. ... UF is 101-49 all-time against teams currently in the A-Sun, including 17 consecutive wins, dating to the 2011-12 season. ... Golden has never faced an A-Sun opponent.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	2021-22 Stats	Kennesaw State
81.0	Scoring	99.0
.475	Field-goal percentage	.590
.400	3-point percentage	.385
45.0	Scoring defense	56.0
.308	Field-goal percentage defense	.339
.214	3-point percentage defense	.235
31st	KenPom.com overall ranking	213th
36th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	195th
29th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	241st
167th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	207th
61st	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	22th

Team Snapshots

The Gators

UF's 35-point margin of victory against Stony Brook marked the largest in program history for a coach in his first game. The Seawolves, though, were

playing with three of their regulars sidelined by injuries, so caution to those reading too much into the final score. That said, the Gators did what they were expected do (and then some, perhaps) and got the Golden era off on the right foot. ... Seven different players made their UF debuts Monday. Every player on the roster got into the game (including the two walk-ons) and 13 different players scored. ... The Gators shot 47.5 percent for the game and 40 percent from the 3-point line. The latter number bears watching, as Florida was just 3-for-15 from deep before half, but a dead-eye 7-for-10 in the second half. Seven different players hit 3s. Meanwhile, the UF defense held SBU to 1-for-10 from the arc after halftime. ... Forward Colin Castleton went 6-for-12 from the floor and was a factor running the floor; even led a couple fast breaks on his way to three assists. The Gators figure to have a significant size advantage in this game, starting with their 6-foot-11, two-time All-Southeastern Conference performer. ... Transfers Alex Fudge (LSU) and Will Richard (Belmont) combined for 27 points, 10 of 17 shooting overall, four of seven from deep and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. Fudge, with a career- and game-high 16 points, did his damage off the bench. ... Point guard Kyle Lofton scored seven points (3-for-4 from the floor), grabbed five boards and dished a pair of assists over 25 minutes in his debut as UF's floor general. As the season goes on, and the competition gets better, Lofton's minutes will increase significantly. ... Kowacie Reeves swished his first shot of the season (a 3-ball) and went 2-for-5 from deep. ... In his first college game, freshman wing Riley Kugel scored five points to go with three rebounds and a steal over 14 minutes. ... Backup point guard Trey Bonham (Virginia Military Institute) led the team with four assists and tied for a team-high five rebounds in just 15 minutes off the bench. ... The Gators turned the ball over only 10 times against the Seawolves, while forcing 18 turnovers on the defensive end and converting them to 19 points.

The Owls

They return all five starters from a team that went 13-18 last season, including 7-9 in the A-Sun. Pretty darn good, considering the

program went 12-77 the previous three years combined, which is a testament to Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who is now 20-63 early in his fourth season and feeling way better about his rebuild than a year ago. ... Kennesaw is picked to finish in the middle of the A-Sun pack (anywhere for fifth to eighth out of 14 teams), which would be quite a jump from the recent routine. ... KSU has been unafraid to take on high-major pay days. The Owls had four such games last season, losing fairly close ones at Iowa State and Creighton to open the season, with larger deficit defeats at Wake Forest and Nebraska. ... KSU has its two best players back from last season in wing Chris Youngblood and point Terrell Burden. The duo picked up Monday where it left off last season in combining for 39 points over 45 minutes in blowing out their cross-state D-II opponent. Youngblood, a preseason All A-Sun selection, had 20 points, including 4-for-5 from deep. He also had eight boards. Burden toyed with a triple-double, scoring 19 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing seven assists. Together, they hit 14 of their 17 field-goal attempts. ... Kennesaw shot 63 percent in the second half (19-of-30) from the floor and 7-of-15 (46.7%) from the arc, on the way to scoring 57 points versus just 19 for LaGrange, which was held to 34 percent after the break. ... The lopsided nature of their opener allowed the Owls to empty the bench, with all 15 players checking in. The rotation figures to be thinner against the Gators. Much thinner. ... At 6-7, forward Alex Peterson is the tallest player in the Owls' starting unit. They've got two guys who are taller, but they're deep in the rotation, having combined for 24 minutes in the opener. ... Backup guard Quincy Ademokoya, a 6-6 transfer from Temple, scored eight points off the bench and is a player who's minutes may start increasing (maybe Friday night). He was a role player at Temple, but had 15 points against Temple and four rebounds against Vanderbilt last season.

Numbers of Note

Walk-on guard Alex Klatsky (21) lets fly (and buries) a 3-pointer Monday against SBU.

* .034 — Kennesaw's winning percentage during the 2019-20 season, Abdur-Rahim's first with the program, based on the Owls' 1-28 record, a striking digit as to just how bottomed-out things were when he arrived. Gardner-Webb, which (interestingly) made the NCAA Tournament the season before, was the lone victim.

* .147 — Defensive rebounding percentage surrendered against Stony Brook, well above the Gators' stated goal of .250 allowed.

* 1 — Blocked shots needed by Castleton to move to No. 9 all-time in UF history. Castleton's four against the Seawolves got him to 120 for his career, tying Udonis Haslem (1998-2002) ... for now.

* 35 — Bench points by UF against Stony Brook, including a 3-pointer from redshirt junior Alex Klatsky and putback from sophomore Jack May, a pair of walk-ons, that sent the Rowdy Reptiles into a tizzy. Both baskets were the first of their careers.

* 2010 — The last year the Gators lost to an A-Sun opponent. The date was Dec. 20 (one of those just-before-Christmas-break games Billy Donovan dreaded), as Jacksonville came to the O'Dome and shocked 20th-ranked UF 71-68 in overtime. That Florida team went on to win the SEC regular-season title and advance to the Elite Eight.

Bottom Line

A veteran, well-coached team will look to build on that Monday blowout and build momentum for two much tougher games next week (home Monday against Florida Atlantic, currently ranked in the KenPom top 100, the on the road at rival Florida State on Nov. 17).

Gators Calendar

Florida vs Kennessaw State (Friday, 7 pm)