Florida basketball: Gators can make a statement tomorrow against UVA

Florida basketball made a strong first impression in Todd Golden’s second season on Monday night with their 20-point win over Loyola Maryland.

Riley Kugel shined, and a handful of the transfers that Todd Golden brought in made their presence felt immediately.

But winning your first game at home against an inferior opponent is one thing. Taking down a blue blood is another.

On Friday night the Gators will be in Charlotte to take on the Virginia Cavaliers and have the opportunity to make a big statement to the rest of the country.

Florida basketball: An early test

Florida takes on UVA tomorrow at 7 pm on the ACC Network.

Virginia’s brand for as long as we can remember has been defense. They shut you down and hold you to around 60 points, no matter who you are.

For a Gators’ team that has struggled offensively for the past couple of seasons, this is a chance to prove that those scoring woes are behind them.

Florida looked good with the ball in game one, putting up 93 points, which included a 16-0 run to start the game.

But Loyola Maryland isn’t Virginia. They’ll put up a much stronger fight on that end of the court and make the Gators earn every basket.

Riley Kugel has a chance to show that he can score on anybody and everybody at will. If he has a great game, his draft stock could get a big boost early on in the season.

ESPN Analytics thinks that we’ll get a pretty close game tomorrow night. They give UVA a 50.3% chance to win and the Gators 49.7%. No spread is out yet for this one, but it won’t be more than three it seems.

We talked throughout the offseason about how this Gators’ team is built to make a run. They can prove that by getting a big win over Virginia on Friday.