Colin Castleton drops 33 as Gators pick up second win of Golden era

Colin Castleton was a force on the hardwood Friday night as Florida took down Kennesaw State behind his career-high 33 points.

The Gators are 2-0 to start the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era following an 88-78 win over the Kennesaw State Owls Friday night.

Center [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] was the story of the night, leading all scorers with a career-high 33 points. After the game, Castleton admitted that the game plan was to exert use his physical advantage over smaller defenders, and things worked out perfectly. Castleton still has a long frame that could stand to add some weight, but he looked like one of the best big men in the country against an opposing center that was four inches shorter than him.

While most of the night belonged to Castleton, [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] and [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag] also hit double digits before the night ended.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. The Gators struggled to shut down the Owls the same way they did against the Stony Brook Seawolves, and opposing SEC teams will take advantage of the sloppy defense. Still, “there’s no such thing as a bad win,” at least for a team that’s shooting to make the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year. Every little bit counts and the start of the Golden era has been fun for the Florida faithful.

It’s a bit too early to make any bold assumptions about this team, but there is certainly a feeling of optimism based on the early returns under Golden.