When Todd Golden emptied his bench with two minutes to play, sophomore guard Riley Kugel walked into his coach's arms for a celebratory hug. Kugel, mostly stoic one on the floor, even smiled.
"I told you guys he would play well," Golden said.
The Florida coach did, indeed, make that declaration Friday, a day after a serious sit-down with Kugel, the talented sophomore guard. Whatever internal issues were going on apparently were resolved (and then some), as Kugel came off the bench Saturday to pour in a game-high 20 points Saturday, including some SportsCenter-type highlight moments, in leading the Gators to a 90-68 thrashing of Arkansas in front of a joyous sellout crowd at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
"It felt good to be out there with the guys," Kugel said. "It definitely is a confidence-booster, for sure. Just being out there, playing with the team, getting the groove back is all you can really ask for."
Kugel, the 6-foot-5 combo from Orlando, hit eight of 14 shots, including two of his three attempts from the arc, grabbed five rebounds and registered a pair of steals over 27 minutes, as UF snapped its two-game Southeastern Conference losing skid by putting five players in double-figure scoring. Both grad-transfer Tyrese Samuel and junior guard Will Richard popped out of their SEC funks, with Samuel posting his sixth double-double of the season at 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Richard scored 13 points and hit a trio of 3s. Grand-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin was terrific in tallying 15 points, eight assists and four rebounds, while junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. tossed in 11 points.
#Gators coach Todd Golden expected Riley Kugel to bounce back Saturday, and the sophomore guard lived up to the the expectations of his coach, providing a game-high 20 points in Florida's 90-68 win over Arkansas.
The Gators (11-5, 1-2) shot 49.3 percent as a team, out-rebounded the Razorbacks (9-7, 0-3) by 17 and defended at 37.7 percent for the game (and allowing just five 3s), including 36.7 in the second half after letting Kentucky and Ole Miss score 50 and 59 points, respectively, in the first two SEC games of the season.
"It was an opportunity where I knew we would learn a lot about our team and our guys," Golden said. "I feel pretty confident in saying we have a really good team, but we had nothing to show for it in conference play, so far. You are what your record is."
Now the Gators have a conference "W" on their record, but also appear to have Kugel back. Since scoring a career-high 25 in a loss to Baylor in the NIT Tip-Off at Brooklyn the day after Thanksgiving, then 24 the next game in a loss at Wake Forest, Kugel had combined for just 47 points – on 27.6 percent from the floor and just 3-for-27 from the 3-point line (11.1 percent) – over the previous six weeks and seven games. That stretch included Wednesday's scoreless four first-half minutes and second-half DNP in an ugly 103-85 loss at Ole Miss.
Then came Thursday's sit-down with Golden, who talked about getting "on the same page" with his talented two-guard.
"We met and made sure we had a good understanding of what the expectations were moving forward," Golden said. "It was just kind of a reset, recalibration. It was needed. It happens. These are long seasons. Things can go up and go down. Reality of it, we're not the best version of ourselves unless Riley Kugel is playing well, as you guys [saw][ with your own eyes today."
Riley Kugel does a pull-up in the rim after a second-half slam-dunk.
Kugel entered at the 16:02 mark after back-to-back UF field goals had pushed the Gators from an early 7-5 deficit to an 9-7 lead. Just over four minutes later he was throwing down a nasty transition tomahawk dunk and, on the next possession, driving for a layup that was part of a 24-3 run that surged his team ahead by 19 barely around the midpoint of the first period.
The Hogs, who upset Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge in November, twice trimmed the lead to nine, but consecutive baskets by Richard, one of them a 3, then two more baskets from Kugel, the second a baseline-attacking slam, had the Gators up 13 at the break.
Not four minutes after intermission, Florida led by 20, with the margin swelling as high as 25, with Arkansas coach Eric Musselman even opting to try zoning the Gators. It was the first time he'd played a zone defense in nine seasons as a college coach.
It didn't work.
"This group doesn't grasp concepts, whether we're playing man or zone," Musselman said.
A good time was had by all Gators Saturday, as UF handed Arkansas its most lopsided road defeat in the 32-year history of the series.
Florida had something to do with that. Kugel, especially.
"We're on the same page now," Kugel said of he and Golden.
Richard, the team's leader, went one better. Way better.
"We're all on the same page," he said.
Florida was rolling by 21 approaching the five-minute mark when the offense got bogged down and Kugel took a pass, free-throw line extended, in front of his team's bench with the shot clock set to expire. He launched a contested 3.
Kugel retreated on defense, looked to his teammates and flashed a smile. The kid has a great smile. Maybe now he'll flash more often.
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