Virginia vs Florida Game Preview
By Josh Burton
Business is about to pick up. After cruising past Tarleton State Monday night 80-50, the University of Virginia Men’s Basketball team heads to Charlotte, N.C. to take on the Florida Gators as part of the Hall of Fame Series tipoff event. This highly anticipated matchup will tip off at 7pm Friday night and will be airing live on the ACC Network.
About the Gators
The Florida Gators are led by Head Coach Todd Golden, currently in his second season. This name might sound familiar to Wahoo fans, as Golden was previously the coach at The University of San Francisco, where he led his 2020-2021 team to a 61-60 upset of the Jay Huff and Sam Hauser led Wahoos 61-60 in “Bubbleville”, just the second game of the Cavaliers season.
Last season the Gators went 16-17 (9-9 in the SEC) before bowing out in both the first rounds of the SEC and NIT tournaments, respectively. This season, Golden has brought in 8 new players (five transfers and three freshmen) with the hope of a major turnaround for this season.
Florida's Personnel
The Gators are led by last years ALL SEC Freshmen Team and Preseason All SEC First Team player Riley Kugel. The 6’5” sophomore guard enters this season with First Round NBA Draft hype, and showed why in their first contest. Kugel led the Gators with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals against Loyola (MD) in a 93-73 home victory to open the season. Though Kugel doesn’t take a ton of threes (averages just 3 attempts per game), last season he hit a respectable 37.6% of his tries. As a player who can score from all 3 levels, he will be the main focus of the Cavaliers defense.
The starting lineup features multiple new faces with 6’2” junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. (2023 MAAC Player of the Year transfer from Iona), 6’10” graduate forward Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall transfer) and 7’1” sophomore center Micah Handlogten (2023 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year transfer from Marshall). The Gators will be without graduate transfer guard Zyon Pullin (2022-2023 All Big West first team transfer from UC Riverside) as he serves a 3 game suspension handed down by the NCAA to start the season. The starting lineup is rounded out by 6’4” junior guard Will Richard, who transferred to Florida from Belmont after his freshman season.
Matching Up
Florida offers a unique matchup for the Cavaliers with a talented backcourt and an oversized front court. I am expecting the Hoos to throw ACC Defensive Player of the Year Reece Beekman on Kugel early and often to keep him from getting into a rhythm. From there, I would expect second year guard Isaac Mckneely to guard Walter Clayton Jr. in a battle of excellent shooters. Clayton led the NCAA in free throw percentage last season (converting .953% of his 107 attempts) and connected on 43.1% of his 3’s on 5.2 attempts per game last season. Rounding out the backcourt we should see Andrew Rohde mainly matched up on Will Richard.
The front court is where this game really gets interesting. If the Hoos stick with the same lineup from Monday’s opener, I believe second year Ryan Dunn will start matched up on Tyrese Samuel while Jacob Groves will begin against Micah Handlogten. Micah could prove to be a handful for the Cavaliers, so I expect plenty of different matchups to be thrown at him. Expect to see both Ryan Dunn and first year Blake Buchanan to also guard him for stretches. Blake's size and ability to move his feet should help him with this assignment. This is also a game where Jordan Minor will have the opportunity to show the Cavalier faithful what he is capable of, as he will certainly be needed to match the physicality of the Gators front court.
As an extra, I would expect we see a decent bit of defensive versatility, particularly from Beekman, Dunn and redshirt freshman Leon Bond III. Reece should be able to guard any of the Gators backcourt as needed, with Leon able to serve as another strong defender against the trio of talented guards. Ryan Dunn will have the opportunity to show his defensive prowess in full Friday night, potentially matching up against both the front court and back court for the Gators.
Offensively, I believe we will see more of our 5 out sets with a good bit of ball screens, particularly trying to pull Handlogten out away from the basket. After he finished 11th in the nation in blocks per game last season, the Cavaliers would benefit tremendously from pulling him out of the paint and forcing him to move around and guard outside. If Groves can continue his hot shooting from Monday, Handlogten will be forced to focus on him primarily in pick and pop situations, which could open up the middle of the floor for Reece to operate.
In Conclusion
If the Hoos can get past Florida, I believe this will be a win that only looks better as the season goes on. Florida has a very talented roster, and it may benefit the Hoos catching them so early into the season trying to work in all the new players. Likewise, I do not believe a loss here would hurt the Cavs as the season goes on. This will be a very fun matchup to truly give us an idea of where the team is and what they need to work on. Continue following along on Locker Room Access for the best coverage of your Virginia Cavaliers!
(Featured Image Credit: Getty)