Florida vs. Kennesaw State 11/11/2022 7 pm SEC+

Florida (1-0/0-0 SEC) vs. Kennesaw State (1-0/0-0 Atlantic Sun)
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Gainesville, Fla.
Game 2 | Nov. 11, 2021 | 7 p.m.


BROADCAST INFO
SEC Network+ | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Kyle Crooks
Analyst: Patric Young

Gators Sports Network
from LEARFIELD
SiriusXM 380 | SXM App 970
Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Lee Humphrey

 

HEAD COACHES
Todd Golden
1-0 | 1st season at UF
58-36 | 4th season overall

Amir Abdur-Rahim
20-65 | 4th season at KSU/overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 0-0
All-Time vs. A-Sun: 101-19
Last Meeting vs. A-Sun:
12/8/21 vs. UNF, W, 85-55 (Home

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
1 CJ Felder F 6-7 240 Sr. 18.5 4.0 5.0 1.0 stl
12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 250 5th 25.9 13.0 5.0 4.0 blk
5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 So. 20.1 14.0 3.0 2.0 3fg
11 Kyle Lofton G 6-3 188 Gr. 22.6 7.0 5.0 2.0 ast
14 Kowacie Reeves G 6-6 192 So. 19.5 8.0 2.0 2.0 3fg

Kennesaw State POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
10 Alex Peterson F 6-7 218 Sr. 16.9 8.0 0.0 1.1 stl
1 Terrell Burden G 5-10 70 Sr. 23.0 19.0 7.0 7.0 ast
3 Chris Youngblood G 6-4 218 Jr. 21.9 20.0 8.0 3.0 stl
5 Brandon Stroud G 6-6 200 Jr. 15.8 5.0 4.0 1.0 stl
22 Spencer Rodgers G 6-4 188 Sr. 29.1 7.0 4.0 4.0 stl

 

NOVEMBER
7 Stony Brook SEC+ W 81-45
11 Kennesaw State SEC+ 7 p.m.
14 Florida Atlantic SEC Net. 7 p.m.
18 at Florida State ACC Net. 8 p.m.
24 vs. Xavier (Portland) ESPN2 5:30 p.m.
25 vs. Duke/OSU (Portland) ESPN/2/U 3:30/6
27 vs . TBD (Portland) TBA TBA
30 Florida A&M SEC+ 8 p.m

 

GATORS AT A GLANCE

• Florida welcomed new head coach Todd Golden with a bang in the season opener, as the Gators opened up a 22-3 on Stony Brook and never looked back. UF looks to build on that in the first all-time meeting with Kennesaw State.

• Incoming transfers Alex Fudge (career-high 16 points) and Will Richard (14 points) had big debuts for the Gators, while Colin Castleton recorded 13 points and four blocked shots in the opener.

• Golden comes to the Gators after three seasons as head coach at San Francisco, where he compiled a 57-36 record and led the Dons to their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998 and their first at-large selection since 1982.

• In the midst of the coaching transition, the Gators kept a substantial core of returners in the fold with Colin Castleton, CJ Felder, Jason Jitoboh, Myreon Jones, Niels Lane and Kowacie Reeves all back in Gainesville.

• Two-time All-SEC frontcourt man Colin Castleton returns to UF, opting to exercise his fifth year of eligibility following off season shoulder surgery. Also utilizing his fifth collegiate season, Myreon Jones started 21 games last season and averaged 8.5 points per game, dropping a career-high 23 points in the home win vs. Georgia.

• Kowacie Reeves turned in a strong postseason, averaging 16.3 points over the Gators’ three tournament games, including a career-best 21 vs. Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.

• Jason Jitoboh emerged for the Gators filling in for Castleton last season before suffering a season-ending eye injury at Tennessee. Jitoboh was coming off a career-best 12-point outing at Ole Miss when he was hurt.

• Niels Lane came on late in the season and had a career game in the SEC Tournament, posting 16 points and nine rebounds vs. Texas A&M. CJ Felder had three double-figure scoring games early and shot well from 3-point range but was limited down the stretch by injury.

• The Gators added grad point guard Kyle Lofton (Saint Bonaventure), a three-time All-A-10 player who scored 1,613 points in four seasons with the Bonnies. UF also brings in a trio of transfers who all have three years of eligibility remaining: junior Trey Bonham (VMI), sophomore Alex Fudge (LSU) and sophomore Will Richard (Belmont).

• Bonham averaged 11.3 points over two seasons at VMI, and Richard averaged 12.1 per game during his freshman campaign at Belmont. Jacksonville native Alex Fudge looks to make a jump after limited opportunities during his freshman season at LSU

• UF also added a pair of freshmen who shared a backcourt at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School in Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel. The duo led Dr. Phillips to its first state championship in 2021. The Gators also signed big man Aleks Szymczyk, who comes from Frankfurt, Germany.

• Carlin Hartman joins the Florida staff as associate head coach, bringing 22 years of collegiate coaching experience including five seasons on Lon Kruger’s staff at Oklahoma. Korey McCray also comes to UF as associate head coach, bringing experience at Mississippi State, LSU and UCLA to the Gators. Assistant coach Kevin Hovde rounds out the coaching staff, coming from his alma mater Richmond after coaching five seasons with Golden at San Francisco.

 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT​

• Kennesaw State brings back a trio of guards who averaged double-figure scoring last season.

• Preseason All-Atlantic Sun junior Chris Youngblood averaged 13.9 points and 5.2 rebounds last season, while senior Terrell Burden scored 11.6 points while dishing 146 assists, the third-most in team history. Senior Spencer Rodgers rounds out the trio coming off a 10.5 scoring average last season.

• Kennesaw State earned its highest KenPom (223) and NET (224) rankings in program history last season and brings back 82.7 percent of the team’s scoring from last season.

• The Owls brought in Temple transfer Quincy Ademokoya, who started six games last season and scored a career-high 15 points at Tulane.

 

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES

Feb. 23 Stetson W 75-71
Feb. 26 at Liberty L 93-100
March 1 Eastern Kentucky W 82-73
March 3 at Jacksonville State L 67-78
Nov. 7 LaGrange College W 99-56

UF’S LAST 10 VS. A-SUN (10-0)
Dec. 22, 2015 Jacksonville W 89-65
March 15, 2016 ^at North Florida W 97-68
Nov. 11, 2016 vs. Florida Gulf Coast W 80-59
Dec. 1, 2016 at North Florida W 91-60
Nov. 16, 2017 North Florida W 108-68
Nov. 27, 2018 North Florida W 98-66
Dec. 22, 2018 vs. Florida Gulf Coast W 77-56
Nov. 5, 2019 North Florida W 74-59
Dec. 6, 2020 Stetson W 86-40
Dec. 8, 2021 North Florida W 85-55
^NIT

 

NUMBERS OF NOTE​

40
Florida’s sophomores accounted for 40 of the team’s 81 points in the opener, including Alex Fudge (16), Will Richard (14), Kowacie Reeves (8) and Jack May (2).

36​

Florida’s 36-point win in the season opener marked the largest margin of victory in a coaching debut in program history. Previously, the Gators’ 34-point win at Jacksonville, 93-59, in Tommy Bartlett’s debut on Dec. 1, 1966, held the distinction.

120​

With 120 career blocked shots , Colin Castleton is now tied with
Udonis Haslem for 9th on Florida’s all-time blocks list.