Florida scored early and often in cruising to a 116-74 victory over Gardner-Webb.
The Gators were paced by Rice transfer Egor Koulechov, who had a memorable night in his Gainesville debut.
The 6-5 senior exploded for 34 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the floor, which included knocking down six 3-pointers on the night.
Koulechov also added five rebounds and five assists.
His 34 points tied a 55-year-old school record for most points by a player in his Florida debut.
Jalen Hudson added 16 points for the Gators, while freshmen Deaundrae Ballard (14 points) and Mike Okauru (13 points) also hit double figures.
DJ Laster scored 19 for Gardner-Webb.
Lovell’s Analysis
Well, that’s certainly quite the way to start a career with a new team.
But this performance shouldn’t be all that shocking to those that had seen Koulechov play prior to this game.
He’s just a tremendous shooter that it almost impossible to stop when he gets going, which Gardner-Webb learned first hand in this one.
And while the Runnin’ Bulldogs are far from an elite team, what stood out most was how much better Koulechov and Hudson have made the Gators. Combining those two with Chris Chiozza and KeVaughn Allen makes Florida such a difficult team to stop.
Mike White has a very well-balanced team on his hands right now, and once John Egbunu returns from injury in January, it’ll make the Gators even more dangerous.
As I’ve said over the past few months, Florida might be the SEC team that’s best built for a potential Final Four run come March.