Florida basketball score, takeaways: Gators dominate Stony Brook in Todd Golden’s debut

Basketball

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Image Credit: GatorsMBK / Twitter

The “Golden Era” of Florida Gators basketball got off to a hot start with a dominant 81-45 win over the Stony Brook Seawolves on Monday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. Todd Golden became the third straight first-year Gators head coach to win his opener with all those victories coming by double digits, and UF was clearly energized to get rolling under his leadership.

Let’s take a look at what went down Monday night with Fastbreak Takeaways.

It was over when … Florida completed a 20-3 run to take a 33-point lead with 9:26 to play. Guards sophomore Will Richard and redshirt senior Kyle Lofton along with sophomore forward Alex Fudge combined for 18 of the 20 points, putting the game a way with a quarter of it still left to play.

First half focus: Fudge dominated throughout the game but particularly in the first half when he hit 5 of 8 shots for a team-high 11 points. Not to be outdone, redshirt senior forward Colin Castleton scored 9 on 4 of 7 shooting with five boards to put the Gators ahead 38-22 at the break.

Exceptional efforts: Fudge (16 points), Richard (14) and Castleton (13) were Florida’s double-digit scorers, and the trio filled up the stat sheet as well. They combined to hit 16 of 29 shots from the field and 4 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc with 11 rebounds and five assists. Lofton finished with seven points on 3 of 4 shooting with five boards and two dimes.

Odds and ends: Florida improved to 2-0 all-time against Stony Brook and 11-0 all-time against the America East … the Gators dominated inside with a 44-28 rebounding edge and 32-14 advantage in paint scoring … Florida also excelled scoring off turnovers (19-2), on the fastbreak (10-2) and from the bench (35-13) … … UF hit 40% of its 3s, draining 7 of 10 in the second half … the Gators shot 53% from inside the arc and 72% from the charity stripe … and sophomore G Kowacie Reeves scored eight points … five players grabbed 4+ rebounds … redshirt junior walk-on G Alex Klatsky made a garbage-time three that sent the O’Dome crowd into a frenzy

What it means: Not much other than winning Game 1 decisively being a feather in Golden’s proverbial hat. It’s tough to draw many conclusions from an opponent like Stony Brook, which trailed for 39:28 of the 40-minute game. Golden’s focus for the Gators is improving in two notably deficient areas from the last couple campaigns: 3-point shooting and defensive rebounding. Florida did both well on Monday, but Stony Brook neither had the defensive talent nor size to combat either phase of the game. Perhaps most notable is that only four of the 11 players who saw 9+ minutes of action registered an assist with the Gators only registering 12 on 29 baskets.

What’s next? Florida will host its second of three straight games at home this Friday when Kennesaw State comes to town for a 7 p.m. tip off on SEC Network. UF’s first Power Five opponent, Florida State, saw its preseason rating take a hit Monday night when it fell decisively, 83-74, to Stetson and former Gators assistant coach Donnie Jones. That matchup is set for Tallahassee one week from Friday.