Florida men's basketball releases 2022-23 non-conference schedule
A new era is getting underway in Gainesville this year as Todd Golden takes over as Florida men’s basketball coach. Tuesday morning, the Gators released their non-conference schedule for his first year as headman.
Florida starts its season Nov. 7 against Stony Brook before hosing Kennesaw State Nov. 11 and Florida Atlantic Nov. 14. The Gators then have a rivalry showdown with Florida State in Tallahassee Nov. 18 and will compete in the Phil Knight Legacy event in Portland Nov. 24-27. The field includes Duke, Gonzaga, Oregon State and Purdue, among others.
Florida A&M, Stetson and UConn are also on the schedule before an open date Dec. 14 in Tampa. The Jumpman Invitational closes out the initial non-conference slate Dec. 20, but the Gators drew Kansas State as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. That game is set for Jan. 28 in Manhattan.
Golden is taking over for Mike White, who left Florida to replace Tom Crean at Georgia. Florida hired him shortly after his San Franciso Dons saw their season end in the NCAA Tournament and he dipped into the transfer portal to start building the roster. Notably, he landed Kyle Lofton and Will Richard — the No. 22 and No. 28 players, respectively, to hit the portal this offseason, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. Alex Fudge, who transferred from LSU, is also making his way to Gainesville.
Florida went 20-14 overall and 9-9 in SEC action last year under White. The Gators are preparing to bring back Colin Castleton, last year’s leading scorer, while also adding two high school recruits, inclduing four-star guard Riley Kugel. Kugel was the No. 72 prospect in the nation from the class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.