If you want an idea of how much of a blowout Florida's win over Merrimack on Friday was, Olivier Rioux got into the game. He even scored his first career point when he made a free throw.
Rioux will be the viral story that makes headlines this weekend from an otherwise nondescript game, but there is one continued level of concern brewing among Gator fans that Friday night did nothing to quell.
Xaivian Lee was scoreless during Florida's win
Given how Merrimack opted to play defense, with four players around the three-point line and a single player down low, Florida could have scored down low every single possession if it wanted to. Every time the ball was dumped down to Alex Condon, he could have hit Rueben Chinyelu for an alley-op each time.
As it was, Condon had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Chinyelu had 14 points and 21 rebounds. Thomas Haugh and Boogie Fland were also in double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively. As a whole, Florida shot better from three and was 8-22, including a 2-3 night from Fland and Isaiah Brown.
At one point in the first half, Florida led 32-4, and the only drama was whether Florida would cover the spread, which it wound up not doing (36.5 points).
But on a night when fans in attendance got replica versions of a national title ring and everything else went right, it's the play of Xaivian Lee that continues to send massive red flags for the ceiling for this team.
In 21 minutes of action, Lee was 0-6 from the field for zero points.
If you are keeping score at home:
- Olivier Rioux - One Point
- Xaivian Lee - Zero Points
Todd Golden isn't naive to these struggles, and the leash on Lee is already shrinking. Urban Klavzar has 22 minutes on the night, and Brown got 17. Lee had by far the fewest minutes of Florida's starters.
The Gators are now 4-1 on the season and will be off until Thanksgiving Day when they take on TCU in San Diego.