No. 1 Florida beat Stetson 85-68 in Tuesday's exhibition. Urban Klavzar scored 24 points and Denzel Aberdeen added 22. Their 46 points carried an offense that had struggled to shoot against Baylor nine days earlier. The other number from the Stetson box score is four, Florida's bench-point total.
Stetson's reserves scored 28. Baylor's bench had outscored Florida's 33-3 in the prior exhibition, according to Florida's Baylor report. Florida's reserves therefore produced seven points across two public exhibitions while the opposing benches scored 61. The competition and minutes differ, so that total cannot rank every reserve. It does show how little scoring support the starters have received before the games begin to count.
An answer that came with another question
CBR's preview of the Stetson game asked whether Florida would make better shot choices and find useful reserve minutes after the Baylor loss. The shooting changed: Klavzar and Aberdeen combined to make 10 of 17 threes against Stetson after going zero for 15 against Baylor, according to Florida's game report. That improvement helped win the game. The reserve scoring did not improve enough to make the depth question go away.
Boogie Fland missed Tuesday's game because of illness, Florida reported. Klavzar started in his place. That absence changed the guard rotation and is a reason to be careful with any claim about the bench's regular-season role. Still, Florida's five starters each played at least 29 minutes, and Stetson was within seven with four minutes left. The game gave the reserves limited room to supply points when the outcome was still close.
Florida opens against No. 14 Miami on November 2, per its schedule. The two exhibitions give a clear question for that opener. Can Florida get a dependable contribution beyond the starting five when a ranked opponent keeps its lead small? Klavzar and Aberdeen answered the immediate shooting concern against Stetson. Miami will show more about how Florida manages their minutes and the possessions around them.
