Notable
* Xaivian Lee’s 22 points paced Florida in a wire-to-wire defeat of #25 Kentucky, helping UF maintain its hold on first place in the SEC. Urban Klavžar scored 19 off the bench (five 3-point FG), while Alex Condon (14/11) and Rueben Chinyelu (10/11) posted double-doubles. Thomas Haugh added 17 points and eight rebounds.
* Florida built a 32-17 lead midway through the first half and led 43-34 at the break. UF withstood an early UK run that closed the gap to two, 43-41, but the Gators never relinquished the lead and pushed the margin as high as 16 in the second half.
* After an even first half on the boards, the Gators posted a 25-17 second-half edge on the glass.
* The Florida defense forced Kentucky’s top two scorers this season (Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen) into a combined 12-for-35 (.343) from the field and 1-for-9 from 3 (.111).
* Chinyelu posted his SEC-leading 15th double-double, while Condon added his sixth. It marked the seventh time this season and first in SEC play that UF has had multiple players with a double-double.
* Lee hit his first four 3-point attempts of the game, matching his season high in 3FG (11/28 vs. Providence; 12/13 vs. George Washington). Lee has shot a combined 7-for-16 (.438) from 3 over the past two games.
* Klavžar’s five 3-pointers matched his career high (1/20/26 vs. LSU).
* Haugh hit a 3-pointer for the 20th straight game. He also extended his career-best free throw streak to 17 in a row before seeing the streak end.
* UF has hit 10 3-pointers in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Saturday was the team’s fourth game with double-figure 3-pointers, going 10-for-28 (.357) from deep.
* Florida holds a 40-3 record at home since the start of the 2023-24 season.
* The Gators improve to 6-0 vs. ranked SEC opponents this season.
* Todd Golden has led UF to a 24-15 (.615) record vs. ranked opponents during his Florida tenure.
* Since starting their 2025 SEC schedule 2-2, the Gators have posted a 22-4 record (.846) in league play.
* The Gators played in front of their seventh sellout crowd of the season and 17th since Dec. 2024. The 11,230 in attendance marked the second-largest crowd at the O’Dome since the 2016 renovation (11,255; 2/19/22 vs. Auburn).
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening Statement…
“A really good college basketball game. We did a really good job in the first half getting off to a fast start. I thought we kind of lost our edge a little bit in the middle of the first half. Hear you guys talking about the Reuben Chinyelu three, we were kind of lackadaisical with the ball in transition a little bit, where I thought we could have maybe knocked them out, but credit to Kentucky. I thought they did a great job fighting, cutting that lead. They went on a 10-0 run on the heels of that, and nip and tuck a little bit early in the second half, but I thought we did a really good job relentlessly getting on the glass, especially the last 10 minutes of the game. And making sure we got second chance opportunities, making sure we got to the line, and our defense was great early, not great in the middle and pretty good late. Guard the line and making sure that we didn’t give up any sort of run down the stretch. So, great win, I don’t think we played our best, but we played well enough.”
On Xaivian Lee’s performance tonight…
“He’s playing great, right? He was fantastic at Georgia. He was great at Vanderbilt. He’s stacked some really good games over the last couple of weeks, and I thought he was fantastic today. Got off to a good start, knocking shots down. To your point, he did a really good job of playing with great patience in the pain, playing off two, making good decisions. And he gave us a big lift, him and Urban Klavžar, shooting the ball in the way they did allowed us to win the game we did today.”
On Alex Condon’s double-double performance…
“He’s a great player. People want to poke at things about our team, or about our personnel, when we’re not doing everything perfectly, but you look the big picture and how many guys in America would you trade Alex Condon for? I can’t think of any at that spot. And he’s been a huge winner for us and the double-double, huge, but it’s his defense, it’s his winning plays. It’s his effort that’s unmatched and it’s why he’s such a great player.”
On the atmosphere the fans provide at the O’Connell Center…
“Our crowd is incredible. And we had to earn it when we got the job here in terms of getting kind of the excitement back in the O’Dome. But as I said before, this is why it’s a great place. People really appreciate winning and they want to be a part of it. They want to be around it, and when we’ve given them a semblance of hope about our program, they’ve shown up us in a big way. And today was no different. It was a great crowd, great atmosphere. There’s a reason why college basketball is what it is right now. It’s games like this, on ABC, that make it special. And this was great game.”
Junior F/C Alex Condon
On how it felt to get a double-double tonight…
“I think how the team is playing is all I am really worried about. The total effort from us all. Just coming into the second half and just competing. I think it was in that 6-10 minute stretch where we really came together. Give credit to all the bigs and these guys hitting some shots. We had good poise down the stretch, so it was great.”
On how hard it is to beat Florida when the 3-point shots are falling…
“Yeah, I think when we hit 10 threes in back-to-back games, I don’t think any team in the country can play with us. We’re a dangerous team. With the inside, especially rebounding, is a big emphasis. That’s in our DNA. We try to win every game with a rebound count of at least 12. So when we get it inside and kick it out to these guys, and they hit threes, it’s really unbeatable basketball.”
On what it was like going against former Gator Denzel Aberdeen…
“I think it was a good matchup. We all knew Zel was going to be aggressive tonight and feed off of the crowd a little bit. Give credit to him. He played a solid game. He was aggressive, but I think our guys did a great job making him take tough two’s and running him off of the 3-point line. So, as a whole, I’m really proud of our team.”
On how the team did defensively on guard Otega Oweh…
“I think it was more of a scouting thing. We did a great job with the scouting on Oweh. He wanted to get downhill with his right hand, and try to finish. I think Thomas Haugh deserves a lot of credit when it comes to Oweh, him just walling up and making it tough for him to finish around the rim.
On how meaningful it would be to be the SEC regular season champions…
“It’s something that we haven’t won yet while I have been at Florida, so it’s definitely a goal for us. We just have to take it one game at a time. We’ve got South Carolina coming up soon and I don’t think a good team can say, ‘Oh, it’s just another game,’ but Todd just said in the locker room that great teams treat every game like it’s a Final Four matchup. We need to have that elite mentality before every game and play together as a team.”
Senior G Xaivian Lee
On how critical getting to the rim was for him…
“I wasn’t thinking too much about it, honestly. I was just trying to be aggressive out there. I was just trying to set my teammates up. When I am looking to get downhill, it opens opportunities for myself and my teammates. So, I am just trying to take an attacking response.”
On how much of a difference it has been for the team now that the 3-point shooting is more consistent individually and as a team…
“I think the message, even before, was how good our ceiling could be when the shots start falling. I think we are seeing a little bit of that now, for sure. Honestly, I do not think that is something that we focus on too much though. It is more the controllables, but when that happens then it makes us that much harder to beat.”
On the impact that Micah Handlogten had tonight…
“He played awesome, especially defensively. I think he has the highest plus-minus on the team. So, he went out there and did some great things for us. He had huge minutes.”
Junior G Urban Klavžar
On how it feels when shots start falling…
“It’s the best feeling in the world. Especially when that first shot goes in. You just get a boost in confidence by just shooting it, which leads to more makes.”
On if the basket feels bigger…
“No, not really. It just feels better.”
On if he anticipates teams defending differently now that the threes are falling…
“Yeah definitely. They are going to run us off the 3-point lines. We also just have to adjust. I know it is going to be tougher to get shots off now, because we are shooting better. So we have to adjust.”
