Prior to tip-off on Friday, it was deemed that Boogie Fland would not be able to play for Florida against Merrimack. Fland hurt his shoulder against FSU, but did come back in a sleeve to finish that game. Logically, one may have thought that Urban Klavzar or Isaiah Brown would have slotted into the starting role and Todd Golden would have moved up the rest of the bench.
Instead, Alex Lloyd was tapped to start, and he did not disappoint, as he was the most effective guard of the night for Florida as the Gators leaned on the rest of their big three to roll 83-54 over Merrimack to move to 4-0 on the season.
Florida stays undefeated after easy win over Merrimack
Don’t read much into the fact that Florida didn’t cover the spread of 35.5 points, as Todd Golden called the dogs off with about 10 minutes to play. Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, and Rueben Chinyelu all played 24 minutes or less, and all still had at least 12 points and six rebounds. Condon wins top honors on the night after scoring 16 points in just 22 minutes of work off 4-7 shooting and 8-8 from the free throw line.
But it was Lloyd getting the start that was the main talking point of the night. He looked just fine on the offensive end with 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting from three. It wasn’t a perfect night, as he did have two turnovers, and his work on the defensive side in the first half needed improvement. As a whole, though, Golden was impressed by what he saw:
“He deserved it. It allowed us to keep Urb (Klavzar) in that role that he's very comfortable in and kind of see if we can help Alex gain some confidence. I think we'll need him this year. He's a really good player, and I think he proved that tonight."
The real question is what Lloyd’s role will look like once Fland comes back. As Golden alluded to, Florida likes bringing Klavzar off the bench, and Brown has been viewed as the 2nd guard off the bench through the first four games. If one wants to really start a narrative, Denzel Aberdeen had just three points in 20 minutes, and he has topped 10 points just once this season.
That’s a debate we’ll dive into next week as Florida’s next stop is Las Vegas when they take part in the Players Era Tournament. Their first game will be on Tuesday against Notre Dame.
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