GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The last opponent, Florida A&M, was not a very good team and the Florida Gators, despite two starters sidelined, treated them as such in a 42-point plundering Wednesday night. The Stetson team that came Sunday to Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center was better, especially on offense (and especially from the 3-point line), but UF was a better version of itself than it was four days earlier because sophomore guard Will Richard was back in the lineup and the home team's margin of victory proved nearly as lopsided.
Richard, the 6-foot-5 transfer from Belmont, hit all five of his field-goal attempts, including 4-for-4 marksmanship from deep, to lead five players into double-digit scorer and his Gators to an 89-51 harassing of the Hatters. UF (6-3) shot well over 50 percent both overall and from distance for the second straight game, but more importantly put together a second consecutive on-point defensive effort in holding one of the nation's statistically best 3-point teams to only 23.5 percent for the game.
With fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton (back spasms) sidelined for a second straight game, sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves got a second consecutive start and scored 12 points, while forwards Colin Castleton and first-time starter Alex Fudge adding 11 points each, a combined 13 rebounds and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Junior guard Trey Bonham threw in 10 points to go with five rebounds, four assists and just one turnover. The Gators shot nearly 53 percent as a team, 50 from the arc (11 of 21), 85 from the free-throw line (22 of 26) and turned the ball over only twice in a second half when they grabbed control of the game quickly out of the locker room.
"Very pleased," Florida coach Todd Golden said. "I just told our team I thought this was the first time all year where I felt like, 'All right, this is what our team should look like,' from a sense that our guys did an incredible job of executing what we wanted them to do, specifically on the defensive end."
Sophomore forwardAlex Fudge, in his first start as a Gator (and just the second of his career), had a second straight double-figure scoring game with 11 points to go with eight boards.
The Hatters, out of the Atlantic Sun Conference and already with road upsets at Florida State and South Florida, came into the game shooting 49.5 percent overall and 40 from the 3-point line, which ranked 16th in the country. Though UF got off to a slow start offensively the troubles didn't spill over to the defensive end of the floor, as Stetson went nearly 13 minutes without making a 3 — and hit just one of eight in the first half.
The Gators led by just three, 23-20, with three minutes to play in the opening period, but went on a 10-2 run to end the half and take a 33-22 lead to the locker room. Reeves and Bonham drained 3s to open the second half and sent the home team on a 20-4 surge that coupled with the end of the first equaled a 30-6 wave bridging the halves and a 27-point lead inside 15 minutes to go.
"We can be a very, very good team," Fudge said. "First thing we have to do is execute, so [today] was the first [game] and we have to keep it consistently and bring it the next game and the game after that."
The next one, by the way, is a Wednesday late-night ESPN affair against No. 8 and unbeaten Connecticut (9-0), which will bring a four-game winning streak — all against high-major programs — and the tournament crown of the Phil Knight Invitational to the O'Dome. Like Fudge said, the Gators will need a lot of what they rolled out against the Hatters (and much more) to play with the Huskies.
"Just keep the energy," Richard said. "I feel like we came out and were aggressive [Sunday], so just coming out, being aggressive, and executing the scout."
Fudge grabbed eight rebounds and hit all seven of his free throws after drawing six fouls. Castleton hit half his eight shots, all three of free throws, grabbed five rebounds, dished three assists and blocked two shots.
Fifth-year guard Myreon Joneshad eight points, six rebounds, five assists and no turnovers.
And then there was fifth-year guard Myreon Jones, whose all-around floor game was almost as flawless as Richard's. Jones scored eight points (3-4 from the floor, 2-3 from 3) and posted season-highs of six rebounds and five assists without a turnover over 19 minutes. His last dish was a drop-off pass in transition to trailing 6-foot-11, 300-pound senior center Jason Jitoboh, who walked into a rhythm 3-point attempt — just the second of his career — and banged it, much to the delight of the UF bench and Rowdy Reptiles.
Smiles all around.
"He shoots 'em in practice," Richard said. "One of them was eventually going to go in."
Twelve of UF's 13 scholarship players got in the scoring column. The only one who didn't was Lofton, whose status after a second straight injury DNP remains day to day.
But Sunday was a good day for the Gators, mostly because they played the right way on both ends. Also because everybody played, everybody got into the act.
"Wacie [Reeves] is shooting it pretty well. Trey Bonham is shooting it pretty well," Golden said. "We have multiple guys on the perimeter who are banging shots, with Myreon shooting it well now. We have the makings of a team that could be hard to guard. That we're doing that now is awesome, and hopefully it continues over the course of the year."
