In the second half of the Florida Gators men’s basketball team's game against the Arkansas Razorbacks Jan. 13, Riley Kugel fought for a loose ball, out-jumping every Razorback on the court. He secured the ball and fell to the ground after a foul on Arkansas.
Immediately after the whistle blew, head coach Todd Golden ran partially onto the court, softly punching Kugel’s legs. Golden was fired up, and rightfully so. The Gators dominated the Razorbacks all game to secure a 22-point victory and their first conference win of the season.
“I thought in the Arkansas game, start to finish, probably the most complete effort all year,” Golden said Jan. 15. “Good moment for us to obviously get off to such a great start and maintain it for the whole game.”
But what lies ahead may be Florida’s toughest test of the year so far. At 5 p.m., UF is on the road in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the program hasn’t won since 2014, to face the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers.
To make matters worse, Florida is just 5-64 all-time on the road against AP Top-10 opponents, and the program has lost 17-straight road games to these opponents.
The odds don’t favor the Gators, but they must make a statement soon. They’ve shown they can compete with the best teams in the country. From losing by two points to then-No. 6 Kentucky at home in a game where UF led for over 28 minutes, to refusing to go away against now-No. 9 Baylor in Brooklyn, the Gators have had their chances.
They need to secure a major win to boost their resume as March quickly approaches. But they’ll have their hands full in Knoxville, where they won’t be hearing many cheers. Instead, they’ll be hearing boos from a fanbase that doesn’t speak kindly of any Gators sport.
“We're going to have to be mentally tough to go out there and play really well,” Golden said. “I'm excited, though, for our team and our guys to kind of get this challenge, especially after last week.”
If one thing is certain, it’s UF can’t afford to repeat its performance against Ole Miss Jan. 10. The team was dominated in the second half, ultimately losing 103-85 in Oxford.
However, Golden’s squad rebounded with its performance at home against Arkansas. Kugel played just four minutes against the Rebels, but bounced back and scored 20 points off of the bench in his most recent outing.
Florida freshman forward Alex Condon said the Ole Miss performance “wasn’t us,” and the team has been preparing in practice for the rowdy Volunteers crowd.
“In practice we were turning up the volume, like putting in a fake crowd in the background just to get used to running offense with a loud crowd,” he said.
Tennessee comes into the contest with four losses and is undefeated at home. Similar to Florida, the Volunteers fell on the road Jan. 10 to Mississippi State but returned Jan. 13 with a comeback win against the Georgia Bulldogs.
UF’s potential is sky-high. The players know it, too. The team dominated Arkansas from start to finish, refusing to take their foot off of the gas. Though, the squad’s best win of the year may have come against the Razorbacks, earning its first Quadrant 1 victory of the season. Its next best win: against Michigan in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dec. 19.
Now, that victory may not be as impressive, as the Wolverines have procured a 7-10 record on the year. Florida needs to start earning wins against ranked opponents. It’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so, and Tennessee would be a definitive start.
The team fell to Kentucky despite holding the Wildcats to just 25% from beyond the arc. However, free throw woes and a late scoring drought ruined any hopes of an upset.
Against Ole Miss, the team gave up 59 points in the second half, an area where Golden urged the team to improve. It did so, holding Arkansas to just 35 points in the second half.
“Our goal was to go out there and make sure that doesn’t happen again,” graduate student forward Tyrese Samuel said after the Arkansas win. “We made sure it didn’t happen again, and we came away with a win.”
But come March, the resume matters, and Florida’s isn’t impressive. On their remaining schedule, the Gators have three ranked opponents lined up in Tennessee, the Auburn Tigers and a rematch against the Wildcats. But that’s it. Teams may certainly rotate into the rankings, but Florida has to quickly begin beating top teams before it's too late.
“I think the sky's the limit for this team,” Condon said. “I think we're definitely a late March team. Whether that's this year or next year, I think it's just we need to put the pieces together, keep playing as a team.”
It’s early in SEC play, with the Gators only having three conference games under their belt. And with a statement in Knoxville Jan. 16, the narratives on the Gators could turn towards the right direction at the right time.
Contact Bennett Solomon at bsolomon@alligator.org. Follow him on X @B_Soly11.
