Gators recover in balanced Grambling round

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The home team was leading by 24 in the second half when the upper guard stepped up Will Richard intercepted a pass at midfield and received it for an uncontested dunk. Twenty seconds later Richard hit another shot and made another clean break. This time, however, he looked away from his left shoulder and saw the center Rueben Chinyelu leave the piece behind.

Richard shoveled a two-handed drop pass for his 6-foot-2 teammate. Chinyelu confidently threw the ball into the air, much to the delight of the crowd at the Exatech Arena/O’Connell Center.

“This team is super unselfish and they play for each other,” UF coach said Todd Golden said.

The stat sheet confirmed him. The Gators (3-0), who posted three wins to open the season for the first time in three years, had five players score in double figures and three others with at least eight points. Chinyelu, the Washington State transfer, scored just eight points in his first two games in his new uniform, matching his career high of 14 points.

Back to back slam jams 💥#GoGators | 📺SECN+ pic.twitter.com/Xf6XlMcpXs

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) November 12, 2024

Three teammates – Richard, point guard Walter Clayton Jr. and backup forward Sam Alexisthe transfer from Tennessee-Chattanooga – each contributed 12 points. Richard’s two steals gave him a career-best five for the game, while Alexis had six rebounds. Second-year forward Alex Condon had 10 points, a game-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Guard Aliyah MartinThe transfer to Florida Atlantic scored his third goal in as many games as a Gator with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

Backup forward Thomas Haugh scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds while playing reserve point guard Denzel Aberdeen scored eight points.

Selfless? Yes. Play for each other? Definitely.

Playing for their coach. Absolutely.

Golden was the only voice to speak after the game, limiting his comments almost exclusively to the game, although questions were raised about his status as the subject of an ongoing Title IX investigation, details of which were made public Friday. Golden respectfully went about his media duties after the game but declined to answer questions, instead referring to a statement he released Saturday.

“Challenging” is how he described the last few days, but Golden praised the work of his players and staff over the weekend and what everyone brought to the floor on Monday.

“I think they know who I am and they’re mature,” he said. “They’re all really good guys and they’re all super focused. We had really good training sessions. We had a great shoot-around game today and I thought they were all really locked in. I had a feeling we were going to play really well tonight.”

UF, which had struggled to rebound the ball in its first two games, built a 15-point lead thanks in large part to work on the glass. The Gators had a 25-10 advantage in rebounds at halftime, including a 9-1 advantage on offense and a 12-0 advantage in second-chance points.

Despite making just 4 of 17 shots from the floor to start the half (on a 1 of 9 shooting drought), the Gators still held a 19-point lead and finished the game making 11 of their final 15 shots.

Golden was asked what he goes through every day.

“I respect the situation, my family, my team, my coaching staff,” he said. “We just keep attacking it like we normally would every day.”

Email senior author Chris Harry at [email protected]