Florida basketball: Gators cruise in opener, Alex Fudge has great debut

After a long off-season, the Todd Golden era of Florida basketball finally got underway tonight. Granted, it was Stony Brook who was in town, but there were still plenty of positives to take away from this game.

The Gators ran away with this one, winning by a score of 81-45.

For starters, the offense looked lightyears better and more efficient than in years past. Rather than dribbling out the shot clock and hoisting up a bad three, there was plenty of ball movement and everybody got involved.

This created tons of shots and opened up a lot of space for the offense to work. The fast-moving pace was refreshing, as it’s what the Gators have been lacking for the last few years.

One of the brightest spots of the team was LSU transfer, Alex Fudge. He came out and turned a lot of heads in his UF debut. He leads all scorers with 16 and grabbed three rebounds to go with it.

If Fudge can be a consistent scorer, it’s going to make the Gators a juggernaut on offense. The depth that he provides is fantastic on both ends of the court.

The other two Gators in double digits were Colin Castleton (13) and Will Richard (14).

Castleton had an incredible day defensively. In the first half alone he had four blocks and tacked a steal on top of it.

Freshman Riley Kugel also showed flashes of his potential in limited action, scoring 5 points and grabbing three boards.

All in all this game should give Gator fans a lot of optimism. The result was as expected, but the pace of the offense and the effectiveness of the Gators’ stars are a big plus.

The Gator’s next game is at home on November 11th against Kennesaw State.

Keep up with Florida basketball at Hail Florida Hail.