Riley Kugel (2) became the Gators' go-guy late last season on his way to be named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Kugel's Number (2) is Up
Thursday, October 12, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Contrary to public perception, Riley Kugel's decision last spring to return for a second season at Florida did not take very long to make. Kugel, the talented sophomore guard armed with an explosive first step, always kept a pretty tight circle. His fleeting thoughts of pursuing the NBA were kicked around with his immediate family and trusted coaches, both past and present.
But Kugel pretty much knew which way he was leaning all along. Everyone in the circle knew did, also.
"It wasn't his time," his mother, Alethea Kugel, recalled this week. "He could have gone [into the draft], and after all the testing and workouts probably would have been taken pretty high. But Riley had business he wanted to handle at Florida. He wanted a second year. He's always kind of done things in 2s."
Yes, he has. Kugel is the second of three siblings. He started playing basketball in the second grade. He played two seasons at two different Orlando high schools, all the while wearing the No. 2. As a collegiate rookie, Kugel (a two-guard, of course) endured something of a rocky start before blossoming into a starter and standout during his second semester with the Gators on his way to being named to the 2023 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team. He wore No. 24 last year – that's a 2 alongside 2x2 – but is wearing his old number for Season 2. Riley Kugel
Now roll in all the (mostly 2-point) buckets Kugel has dropped on basketball courts across the south over his 19 years – most recently, his run of 10 consecutive double-digit scoring games last February and March that marked the most by a UF freshman since Bradley Beal in 2012 – and, yeah, that whole "2" thing seems to work, all right.
"It just kind of represents me," Kugel said.
A case can be made that Kugel represents the 2023-24 centerpiece of a UF program looking to bounce back from just the second losing season of the last 25 years. He established himself as a bona fide go-to guy late in his freshman campaign by averaging 17.3 points on 49.6-percent shooting from the floor over those final 10 games (hit 40.7 from the 3-point line in SEC play, too), with his name trickling onto NBA draft boards. Whatever flirtation Kugel had with the next level was fleeting, at best. After meeting with Coach Todd Golden and his staff, consulting with AAU mentor Anthony Ricks and kicking around options with his mother, Kugel did not just commit to a return to the Gators, he recommitted to his approach to the game; and with it, his dedication to the team. The move was reciprocated.
Golden and his assistants spent the offseason building around Kugel – along with returning wing Will Richard (10.4 points, 4.5 rebounds per game) – by acquiring size and perimeter punch the likes of which the program has not had in several seasons. The Gators, like they did toward the end of his freshman year, again will play through Kugel, but with more weapons to play off of him.
"As a coach, your goal is for young guys in your program to grow and year after year be better versions of themselves," said Golden, whose team is more than two weeks into fall practice, just 10 days from its first closed scrimmage (at Miami) and less than four weeks from the Nov. 6 season opener (home against Loyola Maryland). "I look at a guy like Riley. When we got him, he was a puppy dog and didn't necessarily understand how important different aspects of our program were. Now, as a second-year guy, he has made big strides in a lot of the important areas to put himself in position to have a really good season."
What strides?
"Let's start with familiarity. Knowing what to expect. Becoming more of an everyday guy," UF associate head coach Carlin Hartman said. "Riley's habits have changed. His maturity has grown by leaps and bounds. Obviously, he's improved on a lot of his basketball skills, but it's that everyday stuff – knowing what is expected of him every time he walks in the building and in terms of his accountability on and off the floor – that's going to take his game to the next level."
The path to his sophomore year looks nothing like the road he took as a freshman. Kugel, who won a Class 7A state championship as a junior at Orlando Dr. Phillips High, originally signed with Mississippi State in the fall of 2021, but all that changed with a couple coaching changes. MSU fired Ben Howland and Mike White bolted Florida for Georgia. One of Howland's assistants, Korey McCray, was hired by Golden, a pipeline was established and Kugel signed with the Gators in the spring of 2022.
He was not cleared for enrollment until the start of the fall semester, however, meaning Kugel missed out on the usual two-month, Summer "B" transition period for incoming freshmen.
"They say the biggest jump players make is from their freshman to sophomore season, and that's true," UF assistant of player development Jordan Talley said. "But Riley never had a summer to get him into his first fall. He was behind."
While Kugel still had some eye-popping moments during late-summer and preseason practices there was an adjustment phase that ultimately led to something of a wake-up call. To something he had never been forced to encounter.
A benching.
"It was a low point, but it was a turning point," Kugel said. "I definitely needed it."
When the team returned from holiday break, Kugel had a couple difficult practices. His body language was poor and his coaches, in no uncertain terms, let him know it. They also let him know – Kugel was averaging 17 minutes a game at the time – that he would not play in the Dec. 28 SEC opener at Auburn.
The news shook Kugel to his core. It was his first true taste of adversity at this level. How he dealt with it eventually helped define his freshman season.
"Things aren't always going to go your way," Kugel said, looking back. "How you take those kind of teaching moments is what matters."
Some serious conversations with his mother ensued – "She told me, 'Don't dwell on it. Keep going! Keep pushing! This is your dream!" – and got him refocused on the right things.
"Riley responds for who he trusts," Alethea said. "He knew he had to get their trust back."
Kugel did so through his actions.
"We didn't hear a peep out of him," Hartman said. "We got back from Auburn, where he didn't play a minute, and he was nails at the first practice. He didn't complain, bitch or moan. His response was exactly what you'd want from a player in that situation. At the end of the day, he was responsible for his actions and his behavior."
CHARTING THE GATORS: Tale of the Tape Riley Kugel's 2022-23 statistics before Colin Castleton's season-ending injury versus after, when he became the focal point of the offense.
Before injury
Statistic
After injury
22 / 7
Games / Starts
10 / 10
18.9
Minutes per game
32.0
6.6
Points per game
17.3
.415
Field-goal percentage
.496
.356
3-point percentage
.395
.659
Free-throw percentage
.667
In the third SEC game, Kugel scored six points in the final two minutes, including a pair of transition dunks, to help close out a win over Georgia in White's return to Exactech Arena. Kugel went for back-to-back career highs with 15 and 18 points, respectively, in losses to Alabama and Vanderbilt in the two games before circumstances – for Kugel and the Gators – completely changed in a home win against Ole Miss. That was the night All-SEC forward Colin Castleton for lost for the season with a broken write.
UF had to remake on the fly. From there, the offense went through Kugel.
He erupted for 24 points (7-for-12 overall, 4-for-6 from deep, 6 of 7 at the line) in a close home loss against Kentucky. Then it was 20 in a defeat at Vandy, followed by 19 and 20 in wins at home against LSU and Georgia, respectively.
"Basically, he just started doing all the things I'd seen him do since the second grade," said sophomore classmate and former Dr. Phillips teammate Denzel Aberdeen. "Riley just kind of changed his whole mindset."
Riley Kugel nearly tripled his scoring average over the season's final 10 games.
The final season totals (for all 32 games) showed 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 assist per game, 45.6-percent shooting overall, 37.6 from deep, 66.3 from the free-throw line. Both Kugel and the Gators see those numbers improving this season, especially with a more talented core around him.
Kugel should benefit from the additions of a pair of on-ball, all-league transfer guards, Walter Clayton (formerly of Iona) and Zyon Pullin (Cal State-Riverside), who will share play-making duties with Kugel, whose passing skills are underrated. Their collective ability to get in the paint and finish in the 2-point area should open things on the perimeter. All three can shoot the ball, as well, which should take some attention from Richard, who was one of the most offensively efficient players in the country last season.
The addition of a quartet of new front court personnel – 6-10 fifth-year Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall) and 7-1 Micah Handlogten (Marshall), plus a pair of eye-opening freshmen in 6-11 Alex Condon and 6-9 Thomas Haugh – figures to provide inside balance the Gators did not have in Golden's first season, especially after Castleton went down. All four are athletic. All four can really run the court.
"I feel like we're going to play fast this year, fast tempo, push it up the floor a lot," Kugel said. "We have a lot of guys that can just get it and go. We've got a lot of unselfish players."
More talented ones, too, the collection of which should put Kugel and the Gators in position to bounce back from last year's frustrating 16-17 season.
Basketball Life of Riley (with his mother, left)
Alethea Kugel remembers when her son was playing as a ninth- and 10th-grader (two years, of course) at Central Florida Christian Academy alongside a handful of future Division I players in Brice Sensabaugh (Ohio State), Jett Howard (Michigan) and AJ Brown (Ohio). She'd suggest to Riley that he take cues from his gifted teammates. Play like they play, she'd say.
One day, the young Kugel pushed back. "Just let me play Rileyball."
And she did. It's worked out pretty well, so far. The best may be yet to come.
"I feel like everything has come full circle for me," Kugel said. "It kind of feels like my senior year of high school, in a way. I'm comfortable, I'm confident and everything is starting to click into place."
Todd Golden Media Availability 11-13-25 Todd Golden Media Availability 11-13-25
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