Records: Florida 25-4, 12-4 SEC; Texas A&M 20-9, 9-7 SEC
Next Up: Wednesday, March 5, 7 p.m. EST, at #6 Alabama, ESPN2
Notable
* Will Richard’s 25 points led five Gators in double figures as the Gators pulled away from the 12th-ranked Aggies late, outscoring Texas A&M 24-11 over the final eight minutes of the game.
* Thomas Haugh scored 17 points, Alijah Martin added 14, Walter Clayton Jr. had 10, and Alex Condon scored 11 to go with a team-high nine rebounds. It marked Florida’s eighth game this season with five double-figure scorers.
* Florida picked up its fourth top-25 win of the season, matching last season’s total, also the team’s most since posting six in 2017-18.
* Richard led the Gators in scoring for the second straight and matched a career high with six 3-point field goals.
* Richard passed Gator greats Joakim Noah and Al Horford on the Florida all-time scoring list tonight, now sitting 43rd all-time at UF with 1,135 points at Florida.
* On the heels of Tuesday’s 30-point outing, Richard is first Gator to post consecutive 25-point games in SEC action since Colin Castleton did so in three straight contests in 2023 (25 at Kentucky, 29 at Alabama, 25 vs. Vanderbilt).
* Alijah Martin knocked down four 3-pointers in the first half.
* Florida dished 21 assists, the team’s seventh game with 20+ assists this season.
* The Gators hit 14 3-pointers and have made 10+ 3s in seven of the last eight games.
* Florida’s 89 points were the second-most pts allowed by Texas A&M this season.
* The Gators have reached 25 regular season wins for the third time in program history (29 in 2013-14; 26 in 2006-07).
* Florida has won seven of its last eight games and finishes the day tied with Alabama for second place in the SEC with the teams set to square off on Wednesday.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening Statement…
“Great win for us, great bounce-back for us after a tough loss on Tuesday night. I think this game is a great example of just how difficult and competitive our league is. Texas A&M, they are a very, very good team. They’re in the midst of a losing streak right now, but just going toe-to-toe with those guys for 40 minutes and seeing how physical they are, how much talent they have, how competitive they are, I’m just incredibly proud of the way we played and our ability to kind of get away from them at the end. They made it really hard on us in the second half, it felt like we were tightening up a little bit, they cut it to six, Will [Richard] hit a huge three to take it back to nine and give us a bit of breathing room and allowed us to keep a little bit of distance away from them in the second half. I say all the time, but every game feels like the Super Bowl in this league and tonight felt that way. Great day for our program today, you know, with GameDay being here this morning and out guys getting to experience that. It was awesome, really neat. Then to be able to kind of put the cherry on top of the day by getting a great win, against a great club at home, it gives us a chance to have a nice little Sunday off tomorrow.”
On Micah Handlogten’s production coming off the bench…
“He’s been such a luxury to have back, and [it] just shows how much of a winning player someone can be without scoring a lot. Only two points tonight, but he was plus-16 in 19 minutes. I thought he was, maybe not the only, but one of the differences on the glass, you know to go plus-five on the boards against A&M is like going plus-25 against a normal team. They’re just so physical and so good on the glass that plus-five feels like the biggest win of all time, and his ability to get his hands on balls on the offensive glass and keep plays alive and create second chances for us, he just made a lot of winning plays off the bench tonight. I’m thrilled for us that he’s back, but I’m also really happy for him that he’s able to go out there and have some really good success and be able to a part of the team.”
On mid-game adjustments…
“I mean I thought [Zhuric] Phelps hit two really… well I can’t really remember the exact plays, one was a tough shot, one, maybe not so tough. And [Andersson] Garcia hit the loose-ball shot-clock three, and you know you tip your cap, it is what it is. The keys where I thought we did a really good job on the line was obviously with Wade [Taylor IV] and then with [C.J.] Wilcher coming off the bench, he’s been really tough to guard. He does a great job of stretching the defense for them and then [Hayden] Hefner is another is guy that’s fully capable to do that, and we did a good job turning those guys’ water off and making them just try to beat us from two. There are times when we let them get to the line too often tonight. We got out-shot from the foul line by 12 on our home floor; that does not happen very often, but we were able to withstand it.”
Sophomore F/C Alex Condon
On if he felt more comfortable in this game than he had at Georgia…
“I was feeling a little bit more comfortable; I’ve just got to make some free throws next game, just keep rebounding from the start.”
On his skill level of finding guys to pass to…
“I think just taking my time [compared to] my freshman year, I just try to get the guys the ball as easy as I can. They do a great job of finishing plays so it’s easy to find them.”
On Micah Handlogten’s performance off the bench…
“I thought it was very impressive. The last two games, he’s done a great job of just coming in and making plays for the other guys. He’s getting back to what he was last year, and he works really hard when he gets in there as well. I think he’s just going to get better and better.”
Sophomore F Thomas Haugh
On the defensive intensity in the first half…
“He’s stressed that a lot with us, and going into the second half we had to stop Wade Taylor from coming off that little rub screen they do. I think towards the second half we started to get a little comfortable and started to do that and execute.”
On the physicality of the rebounding game and winning that battle…
“I think we did a great job in practice. That’s obviously what Texas A&M does – they’re crazy good at offensive rebounding. The number one team in the nation for it, so we worked on it a lot in practice and showed up in the game. We were ready to come in with a lot of physicality.”
Senior G Will Richard
On going from no points at LSU to 30 at Georgia and 25 tonight…
“Just being aggressive. At Georgia, that 30 don’t mean nothing. We lost, so I’d rather have zero and win than 30 and lose. I’m just trying to win. My team’s doing a good job of finding me so I’m just taking advantage of that.”
On finding success while playing through a toe injury…
“It’s been tough, but I’ve been trying to find ways to help my team win. I’ve been in the training room a lot, so I can be the best I can be to help my team win. It’s much better, I got an injection last weekend and it’s helped a lot.”
On Alex Condon’s passing…
“It’s great. He does a lot of great things to help us win, and he’s doing a great job of keeping things simple, making the right reads, just making us better on offense. It’s been great since he’s been back.”
On his 3-pointer and Alex Condon’s two dunks helped lift them the rest of the game…
“It was big. Coach emphasized not slowing down and staying aggressive. Condon did a great job of staying aggressive, making plays and I was just taking open looks. It was good for us to finish that way, so definitely something we key in on.”
On the team’s ability to bounce back from losses…
“For us I think it’s just getting back to who we are, to being the most physical team, coming out with effort and energy from the start and just being ready to play. We can’t have games where we go in four- [or] eight-minute slumps. We just can’t do that to get to where we want to be. So, for us it’s just coming out with effort and intensity from the jump.”
On what it is about the O’Connell Center atmosphere that gets them fired up…
“It’s special. Our fans are the best in the country, and they do a great job of coming here and supporting us. Just making it fun to play in and hard for other teams, so it’s been special playing here.”
