NASHVILLE — Florida boarded the plane out of Colombia, Mo., back in early January after its SEC opener and knew something had to give. The most disappointing team in the country label loomed over the Gators after their 9-5 start and it didn’t appear to be going anywhere, unless they figured this out.
The pieces appeared to be there, but something wasn’t clicking. Florida had six players in its rotation that contributed to a national championship a season ago, but it appeared to be far from a contender to win in 2025-26. Todd Golden’s team was on the verge of losing its spot in the AP Top 25 and had an identity crisis of sorts.
“We initially tried to be like last year’s team,” Florida center Micah Handlogten — who was a piece of Florida’s national championship run last spring — tells Hoops HQ. “We kind of realized that something had to change if we wanted to get over that little hump.”
Florida wing Thomas Haugh says that with the group having a number of returners and a high level of preseason expectations, there was a desire to keep the idea of back-to-back championships in the back of his head. But embracing a game-by-game approach changed things for the Gators.
Handlogten believes that Florida learned a lesson after that loss to Missouri. That version of Florida wanted to fire on all cylinders offensively, but it had to humble itself. Star guards Walter Clayton, Will Richard and Alijah Martin were no longer in the picture. Those were the team’s three leading scorers a season ago. Thus, this Florida team had to find a different way.
The answer, as Handlogten notes, was for this group to embrace a defensive identity and get out in transition. Sophomore guard Isaiah Brown simplifies it to Florida playing defense, getting rebounds, taking care of the ball and being consistent. Sounds easier said than done, but Florida has run with it.
Florida is now No. 1 in the SEC in KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric, No. 1 in opponent effective field goal percentage, No. 1 in opponent two-point percentage and No. 2 in the SEC in tempo. As a result, it’s in the midst of an 11-game winning streak and has gone from disappointing to a likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“They’re the hottest team in the country,” Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington says. “I know they’re playing for a 1-seed. I think they’re deserving. They’re one of the best teams in the country.”
The change in this Florida team hasn’t come in the form of an emphasis point as much as it has an increase in good guard play. Its frontcourt has never been considered anything but one of the SEC’s best, but its expensive backcourt of Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee didn’t meet expectations in nonconference play. It appears as if they’ve turned a corner, though.
Fland is averaging 11.8 points per game in SEC play relative to the 11.6 he averaged in nonleague play, but is notably doing it on 46.2-percent shooting rather than the 44.1-percent from the field that he averaged prior to January.
Lee’s improvement is even more drastic. The Princeton transfer averaged 10.8 points per game on 26.8-percent shooting against power-conference opponents in nonleague play. Now, he’s shooting 41.6 percent from the field in SEC play on his way to 11.6 points per game.
The performance of Lee and Fland may not correlate directly to Florida’s results on a game-by-game basis, but since the beginning of SEC play, Florida is 16-2 and has picked up nine Quad 1 wins as well as four Quad 1A wins.
“It’s been so much fun going out there, embracing it and having fun winning,” Florida big man Reuben Chinyelu tells Hoops HQ. “Us playing together and enjoying each other’s success, I think that’s something that is tied to our success. We want to see everybody winning and we enjoy it, you can even see when we’re playing. Everyone is happy for each other, so that’s something that I’m thinking about. That helps to keep us rolling.”
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