Golden, Gators Have Some Orange & Blue Fun

Thursday, November 2

Gainesville, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

Orange & Blue Scrimmage

Sophomore guard Denzel Aberdeen elevates over Coach Todd Golden to put an exclamation point on his slam-dunk contest win at the Orange & Blue Scrimmage.

Golden, Gators Have Some Orange & Blue Fun

Thursday, November 2, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Photo Gallery

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Denzel Aberdeen had just been announced the winner of the slam-dunk contest at Thursday night's Orange & Blue scrimmage. Aberdeen, though, wasn't done. He approached Todd Golden and guided the Florida head coach to a spot beneath the basket coach and asked him to stand there.

"I wanna try to dunk over you," Aberdeen said.

Golden's response: "Sounds pretty risky, but let's see what you got."

Aberdeen, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound sophomore guard, backed away for a running start, motioned to the Exactech Arena crowd to get hyped, then proceeded to vault Golden with relative easy and one-hand slam the ball through the goal.

Crown him. 👑#GoGators pic.twitter.com/qckouwJRDf
— Florida Gators Men's Basketball (@GatorsMBK) November 3, 2023

Was that the highlight of the O&B affair? Maybe for the thousand or so fans, but of far greater importance was that the Gators emerged from their eight minutes of live action, the dunk contest and rest of the fanfare without any injuries. In other words, it was a great night.

"These are tricky, man," Golden said of informal, fun scrimmages in general. "You want to have a good experience, you want to go out and compete, but you want to stay upright. You want to make sure nobody is affected by the game."

Such was the case. Just to make sure, UF held out 7-foot-1 sophomore center Micah Handlogten as a precaution after the Marshall transfer and 2023 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year took a tumble at practice Tuesday. If the Gators were playing for real, Handllogten would have been in the starting lineup.

The teams were split evenly, with the Blue winning 20-19 on two free throws from junior guard Walter Clayton Jr., the transfer from Iona, with 0.5 seconds to go in the second of two four-minute periods. Clayton was double-teamed with the clock winding down and pumped once before trying to launch a desperation 3-pointer from about 25 feet. He was fouled on the play by Julian Rishwain, a transfer wing from San Francisco.

"I knew he'd fall for it," Clayton cracked.

Rishwain, who was only cleared for full contact a couple weeks ago after rehabbing from reconstructive knee surgery in January, shook his head afterward.

"I was playing good D," Rishwain said. "Chalk it up to eight months of no live basketball."

Junior guard **Walter Clayton Jr.** (1) fights to get his last-second shot attempt off against **Julian Rishwain** (23) and **Zyon Pullin** (0).

Other than the foul, Rishwain had a decent evening, scoring five points — freshman forward Thomas Haugh led all scorers with six; eight players tallied at least four points — in what was his first live-game situation since suffering a season-ending knee injury last January and undergoing reconstructive surgery. Rishwain, who shot 40.4 percent from distance in two seasons under Golden at USF, finished second (barely) in the event's 3-point shooting contest behind California-Riverside transfer guard Zyon Pullin, who won the head-to-head matchup 20-19.

Among the other activities:

* A game of knockout featuring former Gators star Taurean Green, now an assistant coach and director of player development, in a competition with a collection of Rowdy Reptiles.

* The Dazzlers dancing with UF's four freshman: Haugh, 6-foot-11 forward Alex Condon, guard Kajus Kublickas and walk-on Cooper Josefsberg.

* A half-court shot challenge with a $2,500 prize to any of the 10 selected shooters. Everyone missed (mostly badly).

"I know our guys are really grateful for all the people that were here," Golden said. "Just a fun way to kick off the season."

Freshman guard **Kajus Kublickas** (center in blue) and freshman forward/center Alex Condon (left in white) shake it with the Dazzlers.

From now on, the on-court fun will be measured in victories.

The Gators open their 2023-24 campaign Monday at 8 p.m. with a home date against Loyola Maryland, a game that will serve as the back end of a double-header with the UF women taking on North Florida at 5:30. The Florida roster will include eight new players, including five transfers, with guard Riley Kugel and wing Will Richard the two returning starters off last season's 16-17 team. Kugel was named to the SEC coaches preseason all-conference team Thursday.

Though the O&B scrimmage was a lighter touch, the Gators already have won a pair of closed scrimmages against Division I opponents, winning at 2023 Final Four participant Miami on a buzzer-beater by Pullin on Oct. 21 and blowing out Florida International by 40 at home Saturday.

"I'm very confident [in this group]. More than I thought I would be at this point in the year," Golden said. "We've shown the capacity to play really, really well. This team has been very consistent with the way they've practiced the last month and I feel good going into the first week of the season."