GAINESVILLE — The Florida men’s basketball team is red hot, newly ranked and on the fast track for the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Todd Golden hopes his No. 24 Gators, back in the Top 25 for the first time since December 2021, are just getting started.
“If we’re looking back at the end of March and we’re saying, ‘When we got ranked 24th that was the highlight of our season,’ then we’re going to be disappointed,” he said Tuesday. “We’re trying to keep things in perspective.”
UF (18-7, 8-4 SEC) has won seven of eight games entering Wednesday’s visit to No. 13 Alabama (18-7, 10-2). A road win against the league’s top team will require the Gators’ best effort, something Golden is eager to see more often.
Florida is formidable when firing on all cylinders. A resounding 81-65 home win over No. 12 Auburn showcased the Gators’ talent and depth as the Tigers trailed by 29 points before closing the gap during mop-up time.
“I feel like we would have beat anybody in the country on that day in this gym, and I’m not sure it would have been close,” Golden said. “But we haven’t had another effort like that since. We haven’t all hit our strides on the same day with the exception of one game.”
Golden has collection of players capable of a deep postseason run.
Begin with transfer point guard Zyon Pullin’s 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, scoring ability (15.5 points per game) and leadership at critical time; add the explosiveness and tough-mindness of backcourt mate Walter Clayton Jr., an Iona transfer from Lake Wales who has a team-high nine 20-point games; and combine it with a frontcourt anchored by 6-foot-10 fifth-year senior transfer Tyrese Samuel, 7-foot-1 sophomore transfer Micah Handlogten and 6-foot-11 freshman Alex Condon.
Florida ranks second nationally with an average of 16.1 offensive rebounds a season after ranking 289th of 352 teams.
After a 16-17 debut season, Golden set out to rebuild the Gators under the basket.
“Did I think we’d be the No. 2 offensive rebounding team in the country? No. I didn’t,” he said. “I thought we’d be a lot better, but not that much better.”
Limiting turnovers has been another other key to this run. UF has committed fewer than 10 turnovers in six of the past eight games.
“Those two things together have made us really good offensively,” Golden said.
But the Gators can be even better if everyone can get involved.
Sophomore Riley Kugel’s inconsistency and Will Richards’ shooting slump have too often left the Gators without two of their more reliable options from 2022-23. Kugel’s team-leading 22-points against Auburn is just one of two double-figure efforts in the past eight games. Richard is 14 of 43 (32.6%) from 3-point range during the same span.
Yet, true freshman Thomas Haugh balanced the scales during the Gators’ 88-82 win this past Saturday at Georgia, finishing with a career-high 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3. He also chipped in 7 rebounds during an SEC-high 26 minutes.
“If everyone is out there firing, we can go out and win a national championship,” Haugh said. “That’s our goal eventually. Once we get to March Madness that’s the first goal. Then once we get there, it’s to go win the thing.”
A strong performance at Alabama, which is 12-1 at home, would be a big step toward the Gators’ lofty goals. UF is 3-4 on the road and just 3-7 against Quad 1 opponents based on the NCAA’s NET rankings.
Their defensive inconsistency will be put to the test by Nate Oats’ high-octane Crimson Tide, who average 90.7, tied with Arizona for No. 1 nationally.
“It’s going to be a really, really tough cover,” Golden said. “We didn’t have a great week defensively last week. Alabama is probably not the team you want to see if you’re trying to get better the next week, but it will definitely give us an opportunity.”
With six regular-season games to go, a Gators squad with nine newcomers continues to coalesce and evolve. Golden is pleased with the progress, but not satisfied.
“We’ve been playing pretty well and we’re going to see if we can continue to sustain that success,” he said. “We’ve been able to do it for a couple weeks, but obviously Wednesday night provides a much different challenge.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
