Florida’s men’s basketball program added another piece to the puzzle Todd Golden is assembling as his first roster on Friday, announcing that St. Bonaventure transfer Kyle Lofton had signed with the school.
And Lofton may well prove to be the most important piece of that puzzle.
He comes to Florida off four strong years with the Bonnies, who had recently enjoyed some of their best seasons in program history under coach Mark Schmidt. Lofton wasn’t there for the Bonnies’ 2018 NCAA Tournament loss to Florida — that was a team led by the stellar backcourt of Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley — but he factored heavily into four straight winning seasons of his own in Olean, culminating in a 16-5 season and another NCAA Tournament berth in 2021 and a 23-10 campaign in 2021-22.