Florida basketball: Zyon Pullin will be a big add to the Gators’ lineup

Florida basketball has already seen a handful of their new additions from the transfer portal make an impact through the teams’ first two games.

The good news for Gator fans is that there’s another guy waiting to get on the court for the first time this season who may have the biggest impact of all of them.

Zyon Pullin, a senior guard who transferred in from UC Riverside, has been serving a three-game suspension for participating in an offseason tournament despite not being eligible.

He’ll miss Florida’s game tomorrow against Florida A&M, but he’ll be back very soon with something to prove.

Florida basketball: 20 more points on the floor

Pullin is going to step on the court and be one of Florida’s top two scorers instantly, competing with Riley Kugel for that top spot.

In his final year with UC Riverside, he scored 18.3 points per game on 48.6% from the field and a 39.4% three-point percentage.

He also dished out 4.2 assists per game, grabbed 4.4 rebounds, and limited his turnovers with just over two a game.

Todd Golden is going to add an elite scorer and ball handler into a lineup that has already looked much better this season than they did last year.

Inserting Zyon will also take a lot of pressure off of Walter Clayton Jr., who has had to run the offense all on his own and be a willing scorer at the same time.

The consequence of adding Pullin to the starting lineup, which I expect Golden to do, is likely to move Will Richard to the bench, making the new first five Clayton, Pullin, Kugel, Samuel, and Handlogten.

The Virginia game ended when the Gators couldn’t run a clean play to get a bucket on their last possession. Adding Zyon will make that a lot easier, and will turn a handful of games in the Gators’ favor as the season goes on.