Franz Beard
Tommy Haugh could be SEC Sixth Man of the Year!
If the road win over Auburn didn’t convince people, then what happened at Mississippi State should have. Florida beat Auburn without Alijah Martin, hobbled with a hip pointer. The Gators beat Mississippi State in Starkville without Martin again, and for all but 30 seconds without Alex Condon, who sprained an ankle in a vicious takedown by RJ Melendez. Experts who have seen the replay video are miffed that neither zebras Pat Adams and Olandis Poole or the folks who are in the replay center didn’t call it a flagrant one.
At Auburn, the Gators led by 20 or more before settling for an 90-81 win over the No. 1 team in the nation. At Mississippi State, the Gators bolted out of the locker room on a 17-0 tear to start the second half, led by as many as 24 and finished with an 81-68 win over the No. 22 team in the nation.
Good teams don’t do that kind of thing. Even great teams struggle to win on the road in the Southeastern Conference, much less do it down one or two starters.
Florida did it.
Now, at 21-3 overall and 8-3 in the SEC, it’s time to think seriously about Florida as a potential Final Four team. Martin’s hip will respond and he will be back. He’s the team’s second-leading scorer and the best perimeter defender in the SEC, perhaps in the country. He’s lock down. Condon has a lower ankle sprain on the outside of the ankle. He couldn’t put any weight on the ankle when he went to the locker room at the 19:30 mark of the first half against Mississippi State. The X-rays were negative and it was determined that this is not a high ankle sprain. Prognosis exceptional that Condon will be back at full strength rather quickly. He is Florida’s leading rebounder and going into Mississippi State had 36 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists in the previous two games.
Getting Martin and Condon back is critical. Learning how the Gators respond to adversity was also critical because Todd Golden saw in real time what he sees every day in practice. He has very good players up and down his roster so when Martin and Condon went down it was indeed next man up and the response was a shot across the bow of every team in the Southeastern Conference.
The Gators are far from a one-man team.
Go back to the Vanderbilt game, played without leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr., who sprained an ankle against Tennessee. Denzel Aberdeen started his first game, scored 13 points, directed traffic on the offensive end and made it through 35 minutes of being pressured every dribble without turning the ball over. Against Auburn, Denzel scored 10 points that included a pair of critical threes when the Gators wobbled a bit at the end. In the win at Mississippi State, Denzel scored 20, grabbed four rebounds coupled with a pair of assists and two steals.
The Mississippi State game can be described as Denzel Aberdeen’s shining moment. Whether in high school at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips or his first two seasons at UF, Aberdeen has always been overshadowed by Riley Kugel. Kugel transferred to Mississippi State after a 2024 season in which he had superstar moments and too many of the super low variety. Aberdeen’s star shone brightly in Starkville. Kugel scored seven and three of those came on a 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go, the game long since decided. Denzel Aberdeen got the best of his former teammate while also showing the world that he’s vital to a team that is capable of winning the national championship. There is a certain righteousness in that.
There was help for Denzel from mates who come off the bench.
In the win over Vandy, Tommy Haugh scored eight, grabbed nine rebounds, handed out four assists, blocked a shot and came up with a steal. Freshman Urban Klavzar nailed a pair of critical threes. Sam Alexis hit a big three, finished with five points, a pair of assists and a very important blocked shot in his nine minutes.
Then came Auburn.
Haugh was all over the place, scoring 16 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a steal. Klavzar nailed all three of his threes, the net hardly moving each time. He also had a pair of assists and a steal. Alexis only scored three but it came on a 3-pointer when the Gators were rallying after digging a 10-point hole in the first few minutes.
When Condon went down at Mississippi State, Haugh flirted with a triple-double. He played 36 minutes seemingly without showing even a hint of fatigue. He nailed three 3-pointers on his way to a second straight 16-point game. He grabbed nine rebounds. He led the team with a career-high eight assists. With 40 points, 27 rebounds and 15 assists in his last three games, Haugh is making a legitimate run at SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Klavzar only took two shots against Mississippi State, but one of them was a three that hardly moved the net. He also had two rebounds and an assist. Alexis scored three and grabbed three rebounds.
Clayton came back from his sprained ankle with a 19-point, six rebound, nine assist game at Auburn and 19 points, six rebounds and six assists at Mississippi State. Will Richard had a spectacular 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists against Vandy, 12 points and five rebounds at Auburn, 10 points and a pair of steals against Mississippi State. Rueben Chinyelu had maybe his best half of the year in the final 20 minutes against Mississippi State when he scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
What we know 24 games into the season is that the Florida Gators are a very dangerous team. There is a very solid and often spectacular starting five of Clayton, Condon, Richard, Chinyelu and Martin. And now we know that Golden has four plug and play guys off the bench who can get the job done.
The next three games for the Gators are all very winnable. It would be a monumental upset for UF to lose to South Carolina, Oklahoma or LSU. Georgia is dicey since it’s in Athens, but Florida beat the Bulldogs by 30 earlier in the year and should win a closer game on the road.
So four wins would give the Gators 25 with a final three games of (home) Texas A&M, at Alabama and home against Ole Miss. That’s a tough way to close the season, but Florida should be favored to win the two home games. A year ago, the Gators lost in overtime to Alabama in Tuscaloosa but came back to score blowout wins over the Crimson Tide in Gainesville and in the SEC Tournament. Florida won’t be intimidated in the least by Alabama.
Should the Gators go 6-1 or 7-0 the rest of the way, they will almost certainly be seeded on the No. 1 line on Selection Sunday. At 25 or more regular season wins, the Gators are sure to be at the very least a No. 2 seed.
Currently the Gators are on the No. 2 line for both Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Jerry Palm of CBS. Prior to Tuesday night, both and Palm had Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee on the No. 1 line of his brackets. Both Florida and Texas A&M were on the No. 2 line.
Tennessee has five SEC losses with showdowns looming with the Aggies, Alabama and Ole Miss. If the Vols falter, it would open the door for Florida or Texas A&M to move up to the No. 1 line. Figure in a worst case scenario Tennessee will be a No. 3 seed but the Vols could still go on a run that will keep them at No. 1 although it might mean they have to do well at the SEC Tournament.
It is difficult to imagine the SEC getting all four No. 1s, largely because Duke probably won’t lose another ACC game. Although the ACC is at its weakest in decades, there is the Duke myth that in all probability will make the Blue Devils one of the four top seeded teams.
Tommy Haugh could be SEC Sixth Man of the Year!
If the road win over Auburn didn’t convince people, then what happened at Mississippi State should have. Florida beat Auburn without Alijah Martin, hobbled with a hip pointer. The Gators beat Mississippi State in Starkville without Martin again, and for all but 30 seconds without Alex Condon, who sprained an ankle in a vicious takedown by RJ Melendez. Experts who have seen the replay video are miffed that neither zebras Pat Adams and Olandis Poole or the folks who are in the replay center didn’t call it a flagrant one.
At Auburn, the Gators led by 20 or more before settling for an 90-81 win over the No. 1 team in the nation. At Mississippi State, the Gators bolted out of the locker room on a 17-0 tear to start the second half, led by as many as 24 and finished with an 81-68 win over the No. 22 team in the nation.
Good teams don’t do that kind of thing. Even great teams struggle to win on the road in the Southeastern Conference, much less do it down one or two starters.
Florida did it.
Now, at 21-3 overall and 8-3 in the SEC, it’s time to think seriously about Florida as a potential Final Four team. Martin’s hip will respond and he will be back. He’s the team’s second-leading scorer and the best perimeter defender in the SEC, perhaps in the country. He’s lock down. Condon has a lower ankle sprain on the outside of the ankle. He couldn’t put any weight on the ankle when he went to the locker room at the 19:30 mark of the first half against Mississippi State. The X-rays were negative and it was determined that this is not a high ankle sprain. Prognosis exceptional that Condon will be back at full strength rather quickly. He is Florida’s leading rebounder and going into Mississippi State had 36 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists in the previous two games.
Getting Martin and Condon back is critical. Learning how the Gators respond to adversity was also critical because Todd Golden saw in real time what he sees every day in practice. He has very good players up and down his roster so when Martin and Condon went down it was indeed next man up and the response was a shot across the bow of every team in the Southeastern Conference.
The Gators are far from a one-man team.
Go back to the Vanderbilt game, played without leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr., who sprained an ankle against Tennessee. Denzel Aberdeen started his first game, scored 13 points, directed traffic on the offensive end and made it through 35 minutes of being pressured every dribble without turning the ball over. Against Auburn, Denzel scored 10 points that included a pair of critical threes when the Gators wobbled a bit at the end. In the win at Mississippi State, Denzel scored 20, grabbed four rebounds coupled with a pair of assists and two steals.
The Mississippi State game can be described as Denzel Aberdeen’s shining moment. Whether in high school at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips or his first two seasons at UF, Aberdeen has always been overshadowed by Riley Kugel. Kugel transferred to Mississippi State after a 2024 season in which he had superstar moments and too many of the super low variety. Aberdeen’s star shone brightly in Starkville. Kugel scored seven and three of those came on a 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go, the game long since decided. Denzel Aberdeen got the best of his former teammate while also showing the world that he’s vital to a team that is capable of winning the national championship. There is a certain righteousness in that.
There was help for Denzel from mates who come off the bench.
In the win over Vandy, Tommy Haugh scored eight, grabbed nine rebounds, handed out four assists, blocked a shot and came up with a steal. Freshman Urban Klavzar nailed a pair of critical threes. Sam Alexis hit a big three, finished with five points, a pair of assists and a very important blocked shot in his nine minutes.
Then came Auburn.
Haugh was all over the place, scoring 16 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a steal. Klavzar nailed all three of his threes, the net hardly moving each time. He also had a pair of assists and a steal. Alexis only scored three but it came on a 3-pointer when the Gators were rallying after digging a 10-point hole in the first few minutes.
When Condon went down at Mississippi State, Haugh flirted with a triple-double. He played 36 minutes seemingly without showing even a hint of fatigue. He nailed three 3-pointers on his way to a second straight 16-point game. He grabbed nine rebounds. He led the team with a career-high eight assists. With 40 points, 27 rebounds and 15 assists in his last three games, Haugh is making a legitimate run at SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Klavzar only took two shots against Mississippi State, but one of them was a three that hardly moved the net. He also had two rebounds and an assist. Alexis scored three and grabbed three rebounds.
Clayton came back from his sprained ankle with a 19-point, six rebound, nine assist game at Auburn and 19 points, six rebounds and six assists at Mississippi State. Will Richard had a spectacular 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists against Vandy, 12 points and five rebounds at Auburn, 10 points and a pair of steals against Mississippi State. Rueben Chinyelu had maybe his best half of the year in the final 20 minutes against Mississippi State when he scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
What we know 24 games into the season is that the Florida Gators are a very dangerous team. There is a very solid and often spectacular starting five of Clayton, Condon, Richard, Chinyelu and Martin. And now we know that Golden has four plug and play guys off the bench who can get the job done.
The next three games for the Gators are all very winnable. It would be a monumental upset for UF to lose to South Carolina, Oklahoma or LSU. Georgia is dicey since it’s in Athens, but Florida beat the Bulldogs by 30 earlier in the year and should win a closer game on the road.
So four wins would give the Gators 25 with a final three games of (home) Texas A&M, at Alabama and home against Ole Miss. That’s a tough way to close the season, but Florida should be favored to win the two home games. A year ago, the Gators lost in overtime to Alabama in Tuscaloosa but came back to score blowout wins over the Crimson Tide in Gainesville and in the SEC Tournament. Florida won’t be intimidated in the least by Alabama.
Should the Gators go 6-1 or 7-0 the rest of the way, they will almost certainly be seeded on the No. 1 line on Selection Sunday. At 25 or more regular season wins, the Gators are sure to be at the very least a No. 2 seed.
Currently the Gators are on the No. 2 line for both Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Jerry Palm of CBS. Prior to Tuesday night, both and Palm had Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee on the No. 1 line of his brackets. Both Florida and Texas A&M were on the No. 2 line.
Tennessee has five SEC losses with showdowns looming with the Aggies, Alabama and Ole Miss. If the Vols falter, it would open the door for Florida or Texas A&M to move up to the No. 1 line. Figure in a worst case scenario Tennessee will be a No. 3 seed but the Vols could still go on a run that will keep them at No. 1 although it might mean they have to do well at the SEC Tournament.
It is difficult to imagine the SEC getting all four No. 1s, largely because Duke probably won’t lose another ACC game. Although the ACC is at its weakest in decades, there is the Duke myth that in all probability will make the Blue Devils one of the four top seeded teams.
