Tag: Todd Golden

Florida basketball suffers first loss of Golden era against FAU

It had to happen at some point, but few expected Florida’s first loss of the Todd Golden era to come against FAU.

The Florida Gators fell to the Florida Atlantic Owls, 76-74, on Monday, which marks the first loss of the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era at UF.

FAU dominated from beyond the arc all game but they were especially hot in the first half. Florida had few answers for the Owls’ shooters and it cost them the game in the long run.

[autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] once again scored 30 points (and posted his first double-double of the year with 12 rebounds), but the Gators’ offense was weak any time anyone had the ball. In fact, it seemed like there were very few plays in tonight’s playbook that ended with anyone other than Castleton shooting the ball. The Gators have tons of work to do on both offense and defense if tonight is indicative of the team’s true skill.

True, Florida is coming off a pair of wins, but Stony Brook hardly put up a fight and the signs were there against Kennesaw State. In truth, it’s unsurprising to see Florida stumble this early in the season against a non-conference opponent, and it will be interesting to see how the team responds following its first loss of the season.

Here are five thoughts from Florida’s ugly loss to FAU on Monday night.

Florida basketball loses votes in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after strong start

Florida’s 2-0 start didn’t impress the voters of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. The Gators lost votes in the latest update.

The Florida Gators have started the season off 2-0 under new head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag], but UF isn’t getting the support most might expect in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll update.

The Gators received five votes in the preseason iteration of the poll, but that number dropped to just one in the post-Week 1 update. While a bit surprising, Florida hasn’t exactly faced a quality opponent yet, beating Stony Brook by 30+ points and taking care of Kennesaw State by a less impressive margin.

Up next on Florida’s schedule are Florida Atlantic and Florida State, neither of which received a vote in this week’s poll. The Seminoles started off the season unofficially ranked ahead of Florida with 13 votes in the preseason poll, but a season-opening loss to Stetson and injuries have tempered expectations for that team.

That means Florida’s best chance to prove itself on a national stage will be the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament that begins on Nov. 24. If the Gators can take care of Xavier in the first round, there’s a good chance it will play Duke in the semifinal and possibly Gonzaga in the final.

As far as the rest of the SEC goes, Kentucky is ranked No. 4 and Arkansas rounds out the top 10. Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee are battling at Nos. 15,16 and 17, respectively. Texas A&M also received 25 votes.

Here’s a look at the poll in its entirety.

A full look at the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll for men’s basketball.

Rank Team Record Points Trend
1 North Carolina 2-0 775 (22) –
2 Gonzaga 2-0 747 (7) –
3 Houston 2-0 723 (2) –
4 Kentucky 2-0 707 (1) –
5 Kansas 2-0 662 –
6 Baylor 2-0 643 –
7 UCLA 2-0 575 –
8 Duke 2-0 567 –
9 Creighton 2-0 534 –
10 Arkansas 2-0 492 –
11 Texas 2-0 483 +1
12 Arizona 2-0 379 +1
13 Indiana 2-0 376 +1
14 Virginia 2-0 323 +4
15 Auburn 2-0 304 –
16 Alabama 2-0 265 +3
17 Tennessee 1-1 249 -6
18 TCU 2-0 231 -2
19 San Diego St. 2-0 222 +1
20 Illinois 2-0 167 +3
21 Michigan 2-0 155 +1
22 Texas Tech 2-0 149 +2
23 Dayton 2-0 139 +2
24 Purdue 2-0 93 +2
25 Michigan State 1-1 62 +5

Schools Dropped Out

No. 17 Villanova; No. 21 Oregon.

Others Receiving Votes

Ohio St. 60; Iowa 52; Connecticut 46; Villanova 44; Oregon 43; Texas A&M 25; Virginia Tech 20; Wisconsin 19; Miami-Florida 18; Saint Mary’s 14; Xavier 10; Toledo 10; Saint Louis 10; Rutgers 4; Drake 2; Florida 1.

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Florida basketball adds a couple votes in AP Poll’s Week 2 update

It’s not a huge boost but these are the baby steps we expect to start the Golden era.

The [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era has gotten off to a solid start as Florida basketball finished the opening week of the 2022-23 season with a pair of wins over the Stony Brook Seawolves and Kennesaw State Owls last Monday and Friday, respectively. While the victories were not against an appreciable level of opposition, they still count the same in the standings — not to mention that the team appears to be pretty well synced early on.

In the AP Poll preseason rankings released prior to the opening of the schedule, the Gators garnered just three votes. While the Orange and Blue scored a pair of decisive wins on its home court, it was only good enough to earn one extra vote per win. Those five are still better than the Coaches Poll, which gave Florida just one lonely vote this week.

The Gators’ two games ahead of the next polls update come against the Florida Atlantic Owls on Monday night in the O’Connell Center and the Florida State Seminoles on Friday in Tallahassee. Both FAU and FSU failed to earn a nod in either the AP Poll or Coaches Poll this week.

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Florida vs Florida Atlantic: Betting odds for Gators-Owls game

Take a look at the lines for Monday night’s men’s basketball action in the O’Connell Center.

Florida basketball is off to a hot start to the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era with two wins under its belt after the first week of play. Sure, those victories came at home against the Stony Brook Seawolves and Kennesaw State Owls — not exactly peak competition — but nonetheless have looked like a squad that might be fun to watch this season.

The Gators’ third game will once again be played in the O’Connell Center, this time against the Florida Atlantic Owls, who arrive in Gainesville with a 1-1 record. FAU won its opener against Lynn Fighting Knights but fell against the Ole Rebels in its second game.

Florida has faced its in-state sibling school thrice prior on the O’Dome parquet winning all three games. The Gators lapped the Owls in the first two, notching a 100-42 win in 2000 as well as a 90-45 triumph in 2004; the 2010 matchup resulted in a 79-66 final score.

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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.

Here’s where ESPN has Florida in its bracketology after season opener

Take a look at where Lunardi has the Gators in the postseason after just one game.

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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3 important numbers to note ahead of Florida-Kennesaw State matchup

Here are the three key numbers from the press release ahead of Florida basketball’s Friday night affair in the O’Dome.

Florida basketball gets set to host the Kennesaw State Owls in the O’Connell Center for both programs’ second game of the 2022-23 campaign. The two teams both arrive on Friday night with 1-0 records after blowing out their respective opponents to open the schedule on Monday.

The two schools have never faced each other before, which adds intrigue to the start of [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]’s tenure in Gainesville as the head coach of the Orange and Blue. After a historic run under the legendary [autotag]Billy Donovan[/autotag], the Gators are now picking up the pieces after the conclusion of the [autotag]Mike White[/autotag] era last season.

Take a look below at the three “numbers of note” from the pregame press notes released by Florida basketball’s PR team.

Florida vs Kennesaw State: Betting odds for Gators-Owls game

Take a look at the lines for Friday night’s men’s basketball action in the O’Connell Center.

Florida basketball got off to a strong start to the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era on Monday night with an 81-45 rout of the Stony Brook Seawolves to open the 2022-23 schedule. On Friday night, the Gators will once again host a lesser opponent on their home floor in the second matchup of the season against the Kennesaw State Owls out of Atlanta, Georgia.

The visitors also won their season opener with a 99-56 home win over the Lagrange College Panthers — also played on Monday. The Atlantic Sun program will have its hands much more full in the O’Connell Center, however.

Florida and Kennesaw State’s men’s basketball teams have never met on the parquet prior, making Friday night’s matchup the first ever between the two programs. Take a look below at the betting odds from BetMGM heading into the second game of the young season for the Gators.

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PHOTOS: Florida basketball’s season opening win over Stony Brook

Take a look at a few prime shots from Monday night’s action.

Florida basketball opened up the [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] era in Gainesville with a blowout win over the Stony Brook Seawolves, 81-45. In a game that was clearly a mismatch on paper, the Gators took advantage of their talent gradient and ran all over their America East Conference opponents.

Recent transfer [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag] led the way on the scoreboard in his first game wearing the Orange and Blue, notching 16 points along with three rebounds. Another recent addition in [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] added 14 points and three boards while veteran [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] posted 13 points to round out the Gators in double digits.

Out of 15 players to earn minutes in this game, 13 managed to put points on the board, including [autotag]Alex Klatsky[/autotag] who drained his lone three-point attempt. Take a look below at some highlights from Monday night’s season-opening affair.

Florida vs Stony Brook: Betting odds for Gators’ season-opener

Take a look at the lines for Monday night’s men’s basketball season opener in the O’Connell Center.

Florida basketball is finally about to embark on its 2022-23 campaign with a tip-off against the Stony Brook Seawolves – the O’Connell Center’s first visitors of the season — Monday night starting at 8 p.m. EST. The game will be the first of what will hopefully be an exciting epoch under new head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag].

The 37-year-old skipper has a lot of ground to gain in getting the Gators’ program back to the level it was under the legendary [autotag]Billy Donovan[/autotag] — especially after a disappointing tenure by erstwhile coach [autotag]Mike White[/autotag]. Stony Brook could very well be the perfect opponent to open things up against, especially given the large spread the oddsmakers are offering.

The two schools have met just once prior to last December in Gainesville when the Gators routed the ‘Wolves, 87-62. Chances are, the home team will come away victorious from this one as well and give the Orange and Blue a strong start to a new era.

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