Former Dr. Phillips star basketball player Riley Kugel transfers to UCF

After spending his junior season at Mississippi State, the former Florida Gator, will suit up for the Knights in his senior season.

By Sam Albuquerque
| 2:00 p.m. April 22, 2025

Sports
High Schools

Former Dr. Phillips High star basketball player Riley Kugel announced his commitment to play his senior season of college basketball at UCF. Kugel spent the last season at Mississippi State, averaging 9.3 points and 3 rebounds.

This is the second time the 6-foot-5 guard has transferred, spending his first two seasons of college as a member of the Florida Gators, alongside former Panthers teammate Denzel Aberdeen.

Kugel was one part of DP’s three-headed monster — which included Aberdeen and former TCU big man Ernest Udeh Jr. — that led the program to a state championship win in 2020-21 and an appearance in the state title game in 2021-22.

author

Sam Albuquerque

A native of João Pessoa, Brazil, Sam Albuquerque moved in 1997 to Central Florida as a kid. After earning a communications degree in 2016 from the University of Central Florida, he started his career covering sports as a producer for a local radio station, ESPN 580 Orlando. He went on to earn a master’s degree in editorial journalism from Northwestern University, before moving to South Carolina to cover local sports for the USA Today Network’s Spartanburg Herald-Journal. When he’s not working, you can find him spending time with his lovely wife, Sarah, newborn son, Noah, and dog named Skulí.