All shooting guard Egor Koulechov could do was smile.
He was not alone on Monday night.
A UF fan base starved for excitement and offense lately was treated to plenty of both during the No. 8 Gators’ 116-74 season-opening win against Gardner Webb.
With the school’s football program piling up losses and in coaching limbo, Mike White’s squad lived to their top 10 ranking while Koulechov proved to be as good as advertised.
The highly touted Rice graduate transfer hit just one of his first four shots but hardly missed again on his way to 23 first-half points and 34 overall, tying Tom Baxley for the most point by a UF player during his debut.