Florida earns pledge from 2022 four-star SG Riley Kugel
Riley Kugel, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound shooting guard out of Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips High School, announced his pledge to the Gators via Instagram Live on Monday. Kugel, who was the second-highest ranked uncommitted 2022 prospect, picked Florida over two other finalists, Georgia and LSU.
A four-star prospect, Kugel is ranked No. 78 nationally, No. 8 among shooting guards and No. 14 in the state of Florida on the 247Sports Composite, though he is viewed more favorably on the 247Sports independent player rankings, which have Kugel at No. 48 in the nation, No. 4 at his position and No. 11 in Florida.
The Gators’ 2022 high school recruiting class consists of Dr. Phillips High School’s backcourt with Kugel and three-star signee Danzel Aberdeen in the fold. Kugel is the first high school player to commit to Golden at Florida, though it was one of the team’s new assistant coaches who likely capitalized on his familiarity with Kugel to seal the deal.
Korey McCray, who spent the last seven seasons at Mississippi State, recruited Kugel there and even secured his signature, which Kugel backed out of after the Bulldogs made a coaching change.
“My relationship is great with Coach (Korey) McCray and he can’t wait to get me there next year,” Kugel 247Sports reported Paul Jones in February. “He loves the way I have played this year and he likes how I fit in the program.”
Kugel’s commitment to Florida is the program’s latest recruiting win under first-year head coach Todd Golden, who has completely reshaped the Gators’ roster in the two months since his hiring. Golden has secured four Divison I transfers — Belmont guard Will Richard, former VMI guard Trey Bonham, former LSU forward Alex Fudge and former St. Bonaventure guard Kyle Lofton — and owns the No. 5 ranked transfer class in the country as a result, according to 247Sports’ calculations.
Between Kugel, Richard, Bonham, Lofton and returning guards Kowacie Reeves and Myreon Jones, the Gators should have a reasonably solid backcourt that was quickly molded to fit Golden’s fast-paced style of play.
According to two of his former players from his time at San Francisco, Golden and his staff would focus on things like the amount of consecutive scoreless possessions the team could create in a game and maintaining at least an eight percent rebounding differential between the Dons and their opponents, each aspect playing a significant role in the team’s overall win probability in a given contest.
Golden’s system also asks players to maintain short and sharp possessions that move the ball around frequently in search of the fastest high-percentage look the team can take.
“Coach Golden believed in us,” former San Francisco guard Jamaree Bouyea told Swamp247. “He knew what he was looking for in the recruiting process and he brought guys in who wanted to win then he gave us the keys to the car.”
The Gators might not be done on the recruiting front, either. The team still has one scholarship spot available on its 2022 roster and multiple sources have told Swamp247 that the team plans to use it on a transfer big man.
The team has expressed interest in former Washington State forward Efe Abogidi, a 6-foot-10 big man who posted a 9.5 percent block rate last year, the 34th-best mark in the country, according to KenPom. Abogidi’s 66 blocks were the fifth-most in a single season by a Washington State player.
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“I think the two areas that we’re going to really strive to be better at next year is shooting the ball,” Golden said when asked for his early assessment of his team. “The team I think was around 30.5% from the year on (three-pointers) and the way that I like to play that’s simply not going to be good enough. We’re going to have to go out and shoot the ball better to achieve the goals we want to achieve.
“Also, defensively, rebounding,” Golden continued. “That was an area that was surprising to me when evaluating the team and the roster that they didn’t have a lot of success in because I think the pieces are there, and I think the talent is there in terms of being able to get on the glass. I think if we can lift those two areas up a couple of pegs and stay consistent and get better in other areas, we should be back in the tournament next year.”