It was an easy night for the Florida Gators as Florida recovered from its opening night loss to roll against UNF in a 104-64 blowout that enabled Todd Golden to unload the bench. Alex Condon led the way with 25 points and ten rebounds, and Micah Handlogten had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
But not all was perfect, and these are three noteworthy observations from Thursday night.
Olivier Rioux makes his formal debut
As Golden unloaded the bench, the "World's Tallest Teenager" checked in with 2:09 left to play. Listed at 7'9", Olivier Rioux has been a viral sensation for the Gators even before playing a single minute. Last year he was able to cut down the nets without a ladder.
But the fact that Florida has a 7'9" guy on its bench that can only get in during mop-up duty is also emblematic of the depth of big men that Florida has assembled.
Size matters
What ultimately won this game for Florida and made this game such a sleepwalk was the size the Gators had that UNF simply couldn't match. The Gators had 16 offensive rebounds and 66 points in the paint.
UNF had 64 points total in the game.
It's a reminder of what the floor is for Florida and why their opening night was so surprising, because there are few teams in the country that can match the frontcourt the Gators have. And when you get a mismatch as vast as Thursday night, blowouts like this happen easily.
Shooting is a concern
What's remarkable is that Florida scored 104 points on the night, even though it was 6-32 from three on the night.
The Gators had 52 points at halftime despite going just 2-17 from three.
It is a storyline worth watching because three-point shooting was also an issue against Arizona, and at some point, the Gators are going to need shooters in order to thrive in 2025-26.