Florida basketball got a strong start to the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era on Monday with an authoritative 81-45 victory over the visiting Stony Brook Seawolves in the O’Connell Center. The Gators looked good in all aspects of the game, coming out of the gates firing on all cylinders much to the fanbase’s delight.
While it was just a single win over an overmatched opponent, the 36-point triumph was also the largest margin of victory for a new head coach in their debut game on the sidelines for the Orange and Blue, overtaking the previous record of 34 points set by Tommy Bartlett in 1966.
With just one game in the books, ESPN’s bracketology guru Joe Lunardi already released his first in-season update to his postseason projections with the Gators earning a No. 9 seed in the East bracket against the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes in the opening round. This represents a small improvement over our last update in July which had Florida as a No. 10 seed in the South regional facing the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines.
Florida next faces the Kennesaw State Owls on Friday night in the O’Connell Center for the second game of the 2022-23 schedule. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. EST and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.
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