Looking for an underdog story? Try No. 3 Florida, which thrives on being overlooked

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Todd Golden has a theme for this season, one he recounts in the locker room before every game: “A lot of us weren’t supposed to be here.”

It’s a friendly reminder about how far the third-ranked Gators have come — mostly as individuals but also as a group.

“We all feel like we have this collective energy with the chip on our shoulder,” Golden said. “If we maintain that, we’ll be in good shape.”

When Golden started piecing together Florida’s roster more than two years ago — he has only two players remaining from his first season in 2022-23 — he sought out ultra-competitive guys with something to prove.

The result was a tough and tenacious team that tends to set the tone regardless of venue or opponent. It helped the Gators (20-3, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) earn their first road win against a No. 1 team in program history — a 90-81 stunner at Auburn on Saturday — and become the fifth men’s team in college basketball history to knock off two different top-ranked teams in the same season. Florida beat then-No. 1 Tennessee by 30 points in early January.

The Gators play at No. 22 Mississippi State (17-6, 5-5) on Tuesday, a chance to face former Florida guard Riley Kugel for the first time.

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Kugel, a junior from nearby Orlando, played two seasons at Florida. He was often caught on camera brushing off teammates and coaches last season, got benched for two games in last year’s SEC Tournament and clearly fell out of favor long before he entered the transfer portal.

Most would agree that Kugel’s departure ended up being addition by subtraction for the Gators.

“We stress getting guys that have great attitudes, great work ethics, but most importantly have pride and want to be here at Florida,” Golden said. “More often than not, our team talent and our collectiveness will carry us. But we want to have those hungry guys that are appreciative of the opportunity and want to continue to prove what they’re capable of.”

The underdog mentality starts with Todd Golden

The 39-year-old Golden was a walk-on at St. Mary’s College, where he played four seasons (2004-08) for the Gaels and developed into a dependable starter. He averaged 5.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in his career and ranked second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio as a senior.

His first head coaching job came at San Francisco in the West Coast Conference, but he previously spent three seasons (2014-16) at Auburn working under coach Bruce Pearl. So getting the Florida job was big far beyond the multimillion-dollar annual salary that came along with it.

Florida’s backcourt is composed of midmajor transfers

Golden’s backcourt might be the best example of his “remember where you came from” approach. Leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. transferred from Iona, fellow guard Will Richard from Belmont and Alijah Martin played four seasons at Florida Atlantic.

“A lot of people didn’t expect us to be where we’re at, overlooked us when we were younger or whatever,” Clayton said. “Now we got this group of guys, and I don’t think he wants us to just lose that mentality. We worked hard to get here. You can’t get to this point and then just kind of stop having that mentality.”

Even though Martin and the Owls advanced to the Final Four two years ago, he landed in Gainesville with little fanfare.

“Sometimes you got to be reminded where you come from, how you got there,” Martin said.

The team’s post players have plenty to prove, too

Center Rueben Chinyelu transferred from Washington State, forward Sam Alexis from Chattanooga, and fellow big men Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh were three-star recruits coming out of high school. Condon played rugby and water polo growing up before sprouting 6 inches between 10th and 11th grades and taking a “no-brainer” hoops path.

Now, Condon and Haugh make up one of the most efficient post tandems in college basketball — and could carry the torch when seniors Clayton, Richard and Martin move on in two months.

“None of us were supposed to be here, so that fires the boys up,” Condon said. “Everyone was lowly recruited and wasn’t expected to be here, so having that amongst us and having that over other teams I think is an advantage to us for sure.”

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