GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida basketball team took the practice court Monday for the first time in more than two years as a ranked team.
The Gators (18-7, 8-4) defeated Georgia 88-82 on the road Saturday to capture their seventh win in their last eight games. Their recent run impressed the voters enough to debuted UF in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 at No. 24, marking the first time in 805 days – since Dec. 6, 2021 – the program had a digit next to its name.
It also marked the first time UF coach Todd Golden, who spent three seasons as head coach at San Francisco (2019-22), led a ranked squad on to the floor.
“Yes, it’s a great accomplishment and a big part of the process of becoming a good team,” said Golden, whose USF Dons got as close as “also receiving votes” during the ’21-22 season. “But the message to our guys was, ‘Hey, this can’t be the highlight of our season. If we’re looking back in a month and a half and saying, the highlight of the season was when we beat Georgia and got voted No. 24 then we’re going to be disappointed.”
The Gators appeared to take the message to heart and responded with a spirited practice as they looked to Wednesday night’s huge Southeastern Conference road game at No. 13th and league-leading Alabama (18-7, 10-2). Florida, just a game out of second place (and two behind the Crimson Tide), has put itself in position to dream big as far as the SEC standings are concerned.
Of the team’s 16 players, only fifth-year forward Tyrese Samuel and walk-ons Alex Klatsky and Jack May have been members of ranked teams. Samuel was a freshman at Seton Hall during the 2019-20 season when the Pirates made it as high as No. 8 before COVID eventually shut down the world. Klatsky and May were on the UF ’21-22 team that started 6-0, went as high as No. 14, then fell back to unranked earth.
“It feels good, and it’s about time we got a little bit of recognition,” Samuel said. “But it really doesn’t mean anything unless we keep winning games, and now we have to do that with a target on our back.”
The Gators (18-7, 8-4) defeated Georgia 88-82 on the road Saturday to capture their seventh win in their last eight games. Their recent run impressed the voters enough to debuted UF in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 at No. 24, marking the first time in 805 days – since Dec. 6, 2021 – the program had a digit next to its name.
It also marked the first time UF coach Todd Golden, who spent three seasons as head coach at San Francisco (2019-22), led a ranked squad on to the floor.
“Yes, it’s a great accomplishment and a big part of the process of becoming a good team,” said Golden, whose USF Dons got as close as “also receiving votes” during the ’21-22 season. “But the message to our guys was, ‘Hey, this can’t be the highlight of our season. If we’re looking back in a month and a half and saying, the highlight of the season was when we beat Georgia and got voted No. 24 then we’re going to be disappointed.”
The Gators appeared to take the message to heart and responded with a spirited practice as they looked to Wednesday night’s huge Southeastern Conference road game at No. 13th and league-leading Alabama (18-7, 10-2). Florida, just a game out of second place (and two behind the Crimson Tide), has put itself in position to dream big as far as the SEC standings are concerned.
Of the team’s 16 players, only fifth-year forward Tyrese Samuel and walk-ons Alex Klatsky and Jack May have been members of ranked teams. Samuel was a freshman at Seton Hall during the 2019-20 season when the Pirates made it as high as No. 8 before COVID eventually shut down the world. Klatsky and May were on the UF ’21-22 team that started 6-0, went as high as No. 14, then fell back to unranked earth.
“It feels good, and it’s about time we got a little bit of recognition,” Samuel said. “But it really doesn’t mean anything unless we keep winning games, and now we have to do that with a target on our back.”
Added junior guard Walter Clayton Jr.: “It’s cool … but we got to keep winning.”
Golden could not have coached better answers from two of his team leaders.
“Now, it’s about handling success,” Golden said. “We had to do that some recently and we’ve talked about not being content with the growth that we’ve made. In our mind, our staff and players, we feel we have more to give and more…
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