Transfers giving Gators a boost in tournament
DALLAS — Coming off last year’s journey to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, the Florida Gators were in need of some definitive weapons, both offensively and defensively.
The Gators lost some key elements to last year’s team in point guard Kasey Hill and forward Devin Robinson. Head coach Mike White knew he had two players who could fill those voids, but it was a matter of putting the new pieces in the puzzle with transfers Jalen Hudson and Egor Koulechov.
It all came together for the Gators during Thursday night’s first-round NCAA Tournament victory over St. Bonaventure. Koulechov and Hudson, combined with the leadership of senior point guard Chris Chiozza and junior guard KeVaughn Allen, got the Gators rocking on Thursday.
Everyone knew about the offensive abilities of Hudson, who leads the Gators in scoring with an average of 15.3 points per game and Koulechov, who averages 13.8 points. The defense from the two, however, was suspect coming into the season, and it’s been a large part of their growth as Gators.
“Yeah, my game has changed a lot, both ends of the floor. Still trying to continue to get better every day. Not exactly where I wanted to be,” Hudson said. “I feel like my ceiling is still pretty high, but it’s about us right now, know what I mean. March Madness is always about everybody. It’s not about individual things. It’s going to take everybody … so that’s what I’ve been focusing on, giving as much as I can, being a servant.”
Both Hudson and Koulechov served pretty well Thursday. Koulechov’s shooting kept the Gators in the game early and Hudson showed his ability to take over on offense in the second half against.
Koulechov has always been known as a shooter, and proved that before becoming a graduate transfer from Rice, where he was first-team All-Conference USA (2016-17). In the firstround victory Thursday, Koulechov hit 8 of 10 floor shots, including 4 of 10 3-pointers to lead UF with 20 points, Hudson scored 16 points, including his monster dunk that amped up the Gators’ second-half momentum..
For Koulechov, the victory felt much better than his first NCAA tourney experience. He was a freshman at Arizona State in 2014 when the Sun Devils lost a tough one to Texas 87-85. Koulechov didn’t play in the game.
“A lot better, a lot better. I SunSentinel.com/sports
was hoping not to have another bad one,” Koulechov said of the memory of the loss. “This is like four years later. I mean, that’s what I wanted when I came here. We’re obviously not done, still hopefully a lot of basketball to be played, but this team, the coaching staff, they’ve been awesome.
“It’s just the whole experience, just even not from the NCAA Tournament, just the whole year, it’s been amazing.”