Florida's basketball team is rising. The X Factor that could really make things take off.

Florida basketball fans had a lot of things to savor Saturday afternoon. They could start with the scoreboard.

The Gators beat Auburn 81-65, though that hardly told the story. Mere numbers could not capture the intensity that Florida exhibited, the pandemonium at the O’Connell Center, the satisfaction on Todd Golden’s face as he whooped up the crowd in the final seconds.

“It was a great, program-lifting win,” he said.

The kind of win that makes you wonder just how high the Gators can fly. Auburn is Final Four material, and Florida made it look like an NIT bubble team.

You can now legitimately fantasize about UF making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The potential is there if it can consistently tap into the mojo on display against the Tigers. And the key to that:

Iced coffee.

Let me explain. Riley Kugel came off the bench to score a team-high 22 points against Auburn.

“I was just keeping my head up,” he said. “Don’t dwell on anything. Keep pushing. Don’t overthink anything. Just stay positive. I know my teammates got me and I got them.

“And I had a Caramel Frappuccino this morning.”

If that’s what gets Kugel going, Florida’s NIL collective should give him a $1,000 Starbucks gift card. Because this season has been hard for Kugel to swallow.

He is UF’s most talented player, a 6-foot-5 package of explosively smooth moves. But the most talented player is not the same as being a team’s best player.

Kugel was that at the end of last season, averaging almost 18 points over the final 10 games. That flourish ushered in all sorts of grandiose speculation.

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If Kugel could take over games as a freshman, what might he mature into? He was voted to the preseason All-SEC team, the only sophomore to make first team. Once the games started, voters probably wanted a do-over.

There was nothing wrong physically, but Kugel seemed blasé, almost morose. His body language said, “I’d rather be a barista than a basketball player.”

For every up, there were three of four downs. At one point, Kugel missed 22 of 24 3-point attempts. He lost his starting job and hit bottom when he played only four minutes in a 103-85 loss at Ole Miss last month.

That prompted a Come-To-Jesus meeting with Golden. I was not a fly on the wall, but my guess is the conversation was largely about the coach’s X’s-and-O’s and the player’s attitude.

Kugel has a different role this season. Last year, he was basically tossed the keys to the offense after Colin Castleton went out with a broken hand. With no better option, UF just spread the floor and let Kugel do his thing.

This season brought the arrival of transfers Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr. The Gators run more set offenses. Kugel’s supposed to be a spoke in the wheel, not the wheel itself.

After an offseason of hearing how he’s the Next Big Thing, that led to some struggles.

“I wouldn’t say struggles. I just call it learning lessons,” Kugel said. “I let it slip, you can say that. But each day I get better, and my teammates help me get better.”

They could see it last week in how Kugel was energetic and smiling. The life of Riley was full of good vibes heading into Auburn.

“Kug was definitely the peace and positivity person this week,” Clayton said. “I think that’s the big reason he had a great game.”

Well, that and the Caramel Frappuccino.

Whatever the reason, Florida has made a habit of blowing leads. It never let up Saturday as Kugel kept the party going with his old freshman flair. The crowd erupted when he had a four-point play, and a no-look alley-oop pass to Tyrese Samuel.

“You could tell he was playing with a lot of freedom, a lot of joy,” Golden said. “When he does that, he’s one of the best players out there.”

You won’t get any argument from Auburn coach Bruce Pearl.

“Florida’s guards are really good,” he said. “Like really good. Like as good as anybody’s guards.”

There are internal differences. You pretty much know what you’re going to get out of Pullin and Clayton.

Kugel is the X Factor.

When it’s missing, the Gators can compete with the best teams in country,

When it’s there, they can beat the best teams in the country.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Kugel is the X Factor for Florida basketball