Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Kugel leads huge rally in 2nd half for Gators
GAINESVILLE — Dr. Phillips alum Riley Kugel scored 21 points, Will Richard added 18 points and Florida defeated LSU 79-67 on Saturday night after trailing by 12 points in the second half.
The 24-point turnaround was sparked by Kugel, a freshman who averages 9.3 points but has reached double figures in eight consecutive games.
Trailing 44-32, he started Florida’s rally with a 3-pointer and later scored 11 points in a 13-4 run that put the game well in hand.
He scored 17 points in the second half on 4 of 5 3-point shooting and 6 of 8 overall.
“I’d say in the first half I was too lackadaisical,” Kugel said. “A couple of coaches came up to me and said to pick it up. In the second half I came in and I know how to switch modes. Attack the defensive side and the offense will start flowing for me. That’s really what I did.”
LSU led 49-43 in the second half before going cold, making just 5 of 20 shots in the final 10½ minutes, twice going 1 for 8. The Gators, on the other hand, made 7 of their last 9 shots to reach 50 points in the second half.
“We were struggling to get ourselves going for whatever reason,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “I didn’t feel like our urgency was good enough in the first half. We were quiet and weren’t talking a lot on the court. We were trying to think and manufacture ways to get out of that. The press definitely did it for us.”
Richard made 7 of 10 shots and grabbed six rebounds. Kyle Lofton had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for Florida (16-15, 9-9 SEC).
KJ Williams scored 19 points and grabbed 9 rebounds and Derek Fountain added 13 points and 12 rebounds for LSU (13-18, 2-16). Adam Miller had 10 points.
Williams had 8 points and 6 rebounds to lead LSU to a 33-29 halftime lead.
The conference tournament begins Wednesday in Nashville.