Hall of Fame Las Vegas
T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2025/11/4/2025.11.03_Florida_vs._Arizona.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2025/11/4/2025-26_UFStats.pdf> | Courtesy Photos & Press Conferences<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/guz2jj6b8wxlcavrez37o/AChKzG6Kq7cTBqsUmaLyXQA?rlkey=2g7aykenkj8l0qyma70yhfdq1&st=qb0i40e5&dl=0>
Records: Florida 0-1; Arizona 1-0
Next Up: Thursday, 8 p.m., vs. North Florida, SEC+
Media Resources
Courtesy Action Photos & Press Conference Video Files (Editorial Use Only)<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/guz2jj6b8wxlcavrez37o/AChKzG6Kq7cTBqsUmaLyXQA?rlkey=2g7aykenkj8l0qyma70yhfdq1&st=imwrrmf1&dl=0>
Notable
* Thomas Haugh’s career-high 27 points led the Gators, but Arizona prevailed behind big efforts from Koa Peat (30 points) and Jaden Bradley (27 points).
* It marked the first time Haugh has led the Gators in scoring and his third career 20-point game. He also set a career high in free throws made (12) and attempted (14).
* Micah Handlogten posted his fifth double-double as a Gator, finishing with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. It was Handlogten’s first double-double since posting 12 points and 12 rebounds 2/28/2024 vs. Missouri.
* Transfers Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee made their Florida debuts, along with freshman CJ Ingram. Lee went for 14 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Fland added nine points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists. Ingram tallied three points along with a steal and a block.
* Alex Condon contributed 11 points and eight rebounds.
* The loss snapped Florida’s streak of 12 consecutive wins vs. ranked opponents, dating back to Florida’s Feb. 1 win at #1 Auburn.
* Florida is the third national champion since 2001 to open the following season with a high-major nonconference opponent (Duke, 2001; Kentucky, 2012). Virginia’s 2019 opener came vs. an ACC team, but in league play.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Listen, credit to Arizona. I thought they played a really good game. And this opportunity to come out here and play a really good program, a program that’s used to winning a lot of games, in a great venue. I thought a great event, a great crowd. Another opportunity for us. Obviously, I think there are a few more Arizona fans out there tonight than Gator fans. It felt similar to the SEC championship last year with Tennessee, playing to Nashville. I thought we played pretty well in the first half, and then Arizona did a good job just putting us in the basket. I thought Koa Peat did a really good job in the one-on-one iso situations finishing. We sent him to line too many times; he had 12 free throws. And Jaden Bradley stepped up in the second half. I thought we did a poor job keeping him from getting downhill, going to his right hand. [He] made some tough finishes, and then, similar to Peat, we sent him to the line 10 times. They did a good job converting on those opportunities, and [I] talked to the team in the locker room. You can’t send a team to line 38 times. A good team, any team, to line 38 times, and expect to give yourself a really good chance to win. Some specific things for us. I thought we could have done a better job – on the glass. That’s been a calling card for us, getting all our bigs back, we lost the battle on the glass by two. I thought we did a much better job offensive rebounding in the second half. I think we had 13 or 14. It kept us in the game. And then I just thought we were way too loose with the ball in the second half. We had six turnovers at halftime. Arizona’s a very good team. I think, they’re not a team that necessarily is going to turn you over a lot. I thought we had some uncharacteristic turnovers and just made some plays that just weren’t winning plays is was the best way I can say it. We ended up with 15 turnovers. We had nine in the second half. We didn’t shoot the ball great. We’re a high-floor program. We rebound well, we take care of the ball, and that’s going to usually give us a great chance to win, and we were deficient in both those areas tonight and we’re walking out here with a six-point loss. I was proud of our group. We went down eight, nine, something like that with about two minutes to go and new team, raucous environment. I thought our guys did a really good job staying together. I thought Tommy [Haugh] did a great job leading down the stretch, keeping everybody together. And listen, we’re in a tough spot. We had a chance to tie the game with 30 seconds to go, and then we had another opportunity, one possession later with another wide open three to cut it to one. So I’m super disappointed we lost, but the reason why we played this game was to give ourselves a really good opportunity to get a quality win. I don’t think anybody is going to hold this loss over our head, moving forward, and I do think it gives us a great opportunity to teach our team before we play North Florida on Thursday.”
On Arizona’s physicality…
“I think they did a good job matching us that way. Usually, we deliver the physicality that way. I thought [Koa] Peat was really the biggest one. I thought we did a great job on [Motiejus] Krivas. He’s a really good player, and we held him a six [points] and eight [rebounds] in 26 minutes. I thought we did a good job on [Tobe] Awaka. He’s an awesome player, as well. He was in foul trouble most of the night, but we limited his effort. It was really Peat, that just used his physicality and did a great job being close to the rim.”
Junior F Thomas Haugh
On Koa Peat’s performance and physicality…
“I think our bigs, as a group we know we need to be the best front court in the nation this year. We can’t let somebody like that come out here and score 30 points on us. It’s not acceptable, and it won’t happen moving forward.”
