Florida men’s basketball team is going to look nothing like his last one.
That’s a good thing after a 16-17 debut season for coach Todd Golden. Swapping out nine scholarship players isn’t always the best thing, either.
Golden does not want his second roster remake in a 12-month span to become an annual event. While the transfer portal provides the opportunity for quick fixes and overnight turnarounds, a program’s long-term success hinges on building a foundation.
“We want more continuity than that,” he said Thursday.
But the latest overhaul should stabilize the Gators and shore up weaknesses.
Four of the newcomers are graduate transfers, four are freshman and two have at least two seasons of remaining eligibility, as do the team’s four returners — junior Will Richard and sophomores Riley Kugel, Denzel Aberdeen and Aleks Szymczyk.
Junior combo guard Walter Clayton Jr., fifth-year point guard Zyon Pullin of UC Riverside and USF transfer Julian Rishwain should immediately improve UF’s woeful 31.38% 3-point shooting last season (311th nationally of 352 teams). Clayton and Pullin were a combined 42.1% from beyond the arc last season; Rishwain was 43% in 2021-22 for Golden’s NCAA Tournament team before he left for Gainesville; and Lithuanian guard Kajus Kublickas shot 37.7% from 3.
“We have some really skilled, talented players on the perimeter,” Golden said. “We’ll have the ability to knock down shots better.”
The trio also should prevent defenses from keying on Richard, who led UF with 51 3s and 39.8% shooting from long range.
“It will obviously space things out and it make it harder for teams to key on a specific player,” Golden said.
The Gators’ size infusion will spread the responsibility under the basket a season after Colin Castleton shouldered the load before a season-ending broken hand during the 26th game effectively ended UF’s slim NCAA Tournament hopes. Meanwhile, the 6-foot-4 Richard was second on a team in rebounding, which explains why Florida ranked 328th in rebounding margin.
UF added 7-foot-1 sophomore Micah Handlogten from Marshall, 6-foot-10 Tyrese Samuel, a grad transfer from Seton Hall, 6-8 Yale grad transfer EJ Jarvis and 6-foot-10 freshman Alex Condon from Australia.
“Tyrese, EJ, Micah are all high-level rim protectors and rebounders at the Division I level,” Golden said. “We will get better that way.”
For now, seven Gators’ newcomers — Pullin arrives Saturday and Kublickas at summer’s end — will wrap up their second week of offseason drills pushing to adapt to their surroundings and bond with new teammates.
“There’s so a lot of work that has to be done to get everybody on the same page,” Golden said.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
