The Florida Gators men’s basketball gave fans their first look at the team in the team’s Orange & Blue scrimmage Thursday night.
The event consisted of a scrimmage, a 3-point contest and a dunk contest. The night was highlighted by sophomore guard Denzel Aberdeen. He won the dunk contest and followed his victory with a dunk over the head of head coach Todd Golden.
Golden said after the dunk that it hadn’t been practiced.
“[Aberdeen] just told me he thought he could get over me tonight,” Golden said. “It sounds a little risky, but let's see what we got.”
Florida’s head coach emphasized the progress Aberdeen has made and said the guard will surprise people with the jump he’s made from his freshman to sophomore season.
“That [dunk] was just an example of how athletic he’s gotten,” Golden said. “He’s turned into a really good player.”
The Gators started the event with an intrasquad scrimmage consisting of two 4-minute halves.
The blue team consisted of what is likely to be a majority of the team’s starting five this season. Juniors Will Richard and Walter Clayton Jr., sophomore guard Riley Kugel, graduate student forward Tyrese Samuel and freshman guard Kajus Kublickas all started for the blue team.
Sophomore center Micah Handlogten sat out of Thursday’s scrimmage, but Golden confirmed it was merely a precautionary move and he would’ve played if it was a real game.
The orange team’s starters included Aberdeen, graduate student guard Julian Rishwain, freshmen forwards Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh and graduate student guard Zyon Pullin, who will miss the first three games of the season due to a suspension.
Kugel got the scoring started off in the game with an alley-oop dunk. The scoring was evenly shared by both sides’ players. Players like Pullin showed an ability to attack the basket and score down low.
Richard drilled a pull-up 3-pointer at the top of the arc late in the scrimmage. Kugel, who was named to the Coaches’ Preseason First-Team All-SEC, drilled a three against contact and converted a four-point play.
Haugh and Condon also established a nice presence down low and managed to score a few buckets down low.
The blue team won the scrimmage, 20-19 after Clayton drew a foul on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free throws.
Golden felt good about where his team is now than where they were at the same time last year, he said.
The two biggest surprises he’s seen going into the 2023-2024 season is how quickly his guys have connected despite bringing in eight new players and the play of his freshman exceeding expectations, he said.
Golden added how he expects the freshman on the team to be in the rotation and play a good amount of minutes early in the season.
“We thought they were really good players, but we didn't know what they were gonna be when they got here,” Golden said.
The night concluded with the 3-point and dunk contests. Pullin and Rishwain battled in the final round after eliminating Richard, Kublickas, freshman Cooper Josefsburg and redshirt senior Alex Klatsky. Pullin prevailed in the contest 20-19.
The dunk contest consisted of one dunk each from Aberdeen, Haugh and Condon. While Condon’s homage to Michael Jordan wowed some of the judges, it wasn’t enough to outdo Aberdeen, whose 360-degree dunk won him the final contest of the night.
The Gators open their season against Loyola Maryland at 8 p.m. Monday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Contact Jackson Reyes at jacksonreyes@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @JacksnReyes.
Jackson Reyes is a UF journalism senior and The Alligator's Fall 2023 Sports Editor. He previously served as Digital Managing Editor and was a reporter and assistant editor on the sports desk. In his free time, he enjoys collecting records, long walks on the beach and watching Bo Nix.
