GAINESVILLE — Florida coach Todd Golden’s team started fast and coasted to a 93-73 win against Loyola Maryland.
Kelly Rae Finley’s women stumbled out of the gates but picked up the pace as the Gators’ cruised 82-65 past North Florida.
The season openers Monday night for UF’s two basketball teams came against overmatched foes as key Gators holdovers and newcomers pushed to establish roles and chemistry.
“These games are a confidence booster,” Seton Hall graduate Tyrese Samuel said. “Every team has a different play style. Just learn from every game. It just helps at team in the long run.”
Golden’s squad raced to a 16-0 lead against the Greyhounds featuring three lay-ups by Samuel and culminating with a 3-pointer from 6-foot-11 freshman Alex Condon of Perth, Australia. Samuel, who tallied 15 points and 8 boards, and Condon, who scored 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, are among seven newcomers who saw action at O’Connell Center.
“Everybody is going to have their night one day,” Samuel said. “It doesn’t matter. Just play hard and play together.”
Sophomore guard Riley Kugel, an Orlando native and 2022-23 All-SEC Freshman selection, led four double-figure scorers with 23 points while adding 6 steals and 4 assists.
“I’m definitely more than just a scorer,” Kugel said. “This is the year I can show everything I can bring to the table.”
Iona transfer guard Walter Clayton Jr. of Lake Wales posted a complete line himself with 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while 7-foot-1 Marshall transfer Micah Handlogten had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 2 3-pointers.
“I can’t say I was really expecting that tonight. But we’ll take it,” Golden quipped. “He’s a skilled player for his size. They weren’t guarding him out there.”
The Gators (1-0) were 20.5-point favorites and expected to roll to a win. With a better night at the free-throw line, where Florida shot 15 of 30, they could have cracked 100.
“That can be an issue moving forward,” Golden said. “As we play the tougher teams on our schedule, we just have to take advantage of the line better.”
Golden also was disappointed Loyola made 9 3s.
The Gators, after all, are on the clock. A matchup Friday against traditional power Virginia looms. The rebuilding and unranked Cavaliers opened Monday with an 80-50 win against Tarleton State.
On Nov. 17, the Gators host Florida State a season after UF defeated the Seminoles, winners of seven straight in the series from 2014-20, in Golden’s debut season.
“It’s not going to get easier,” Samuel said. “We just have to keep practicing. We have enough talent and depth to do amazing things.”
After home dates with Bethune-Cookman on Thursday and Florida A&M on Nov. 13, the women will host the No. 17 Seminoles prior to the men’s game.
Like Golden’s team, Finley’s has work to do.
The Gators (1-0) struggled to pull away until a 12-2 run to end the third quarter. Florida then answered a 3 from Kaila Rougier to open the fourth with an 11-0 run.
“We missed a lot of layups,” center Ra Shaya Kyle said. “We made up for it in the second half. We instill a lot of confidence into each other — keep shooting the ball and it will fall.”
Kyle was 0 of 7 in the first half but shot 7 of 8 after intermission to finish with 15 points.
Defense, however, was the key to the Gators’ surge.
UF missed eight shots and had three turnovers to outscore North Florida 23-5.
“We really try to emphasize continual play in terms of stops and scores and scores or stops,” Finley said. “We call them Gators. There was a point where the bench said, ‘That was a Gator!’ That’s how you build a lead.”
Leilani Correa led the way with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The 6-foot shooting guard battled a stress injury to her leg much of last season after transferring from St. John’s but said, “I feel better than I have, before I got here last year.”
Ballyhooed Texas transfer guard Aliyah Matharu tallied 15 points, 11 during the pivotal third quarter. Freshman Laila Reynolds, a McDonald’s All-American, finished with 6 points on 3-for-9 shooting and had 3 rebounds in 19 minutes, but her coach was pleased.
“I like the shots that she took,” Finley said. “She was patient, She played hard in long stretches. I could see her effort in doing what she was supposed to do, which is all you can ask from a freshman.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
