UF senior center Micah Handlogten challenges UConn guard Braylon Mullins during Tuesday's game at Madison Square Garden.
NEW YORK — Todd Golden was disappointed, no question about it. Yet another matchup against a national championship-caliber opponent had slipped away. Still, woven into that frustration early Wednesday morning was Golden’s clear optimism about his 2025-26 basketball team, which has faltered just enough in key moments to come up short.
"We're close," Golden said after fifth-ranked Connecticut handed his 18th-ranked Gators a 77-73 defeat Tuesday night in their highly anticipated clash at Madison Square Garden. "We're right there."
So, how close?
- UF dropped its season opener to Arizona – now ranked No. 1 – by six points in a tough Las Vegas environment. In that contest, the Gators missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 30 seconds left.
- A week ago, Florida fell by one at Duke, currently No. 3, in a game the Gators led by two with 25 seconds remaining, only to surrender a 3-pointer and then commit a turnover in the final five seconds.
- Now add the UConn setback to the list. The Gators played excellent basketball for the first 10-plus minutes of the second half, but an eight-minute slump put them behind again. Even so, they had possession, trailing by three with under 10 seconds left, before committing a five-second violation on the inbounds play.
Factor in the four-point loss to Texas Christian at the Thanksgiving tournament in San Diego — a game UF led by 10 in the second half — and the Gators (5-4) have already dropped four games this season. That equals the total number of losses from their entire 2024-25 national championship run, with the defeats coming by a combined 15 points.
Close? Absolutely.
But that and a couple of bucks would have bought a street-meat hot dog outside Penn Station on the way out of town.
UConn junior guard Solo Ball scored 19 points and knocked down five of six free throws in the final 34 seconds to help the Huskies (9-1) escape MSG with a win in the nightcap of the Jimmy V Classic. The game not only featured the last three NCAA champions, but also served as a rematch of last March’s second-round tournament clash, won by the Gators in Raleigh, North Carolina, en route to their title. Senior forward Alex Karaban added 13 points, including key late baskets, while backup guard Malachi Smith dished out nine assists with just one turnover, sparking a Huskies bench that outscored the Gators 20-6.
UF was paced by senior guard Xaivian Lee, a transfer from Princeton, who delivered 19 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals, and no turnovers across 38 minutes. Lee shot 5-for-14 from the field and 8-for-9 at the free-throw line, but struggled again from deep, hitting just one of seven attempts from beyond the arc.
"I need to start making some [expletive] shots, that's what I need to do," said Lee, who is now shooting 26% overall and 20.3% from 3-point range. "When I start making shots, we're going to be so [expletive] good. Not to put pressure on myself, but it's true."
UF guard Xaivian Lee (1) lead his team with 19 points, but also played a complete floor game with six rebounds and five assists without a turnover.
UF shot 42% overall, connecting on just four of 15 attempts from beyond the arc (27%) and converting 19 of 27 free throws (70.4%). The Gators also committed 12 turnovers, which led to 17 points for the Huskies. Meanwhile, UConn was efficient, hitting 50% from the field and nearly matching that from deep (8-for-18), while limiting themselves to only nine turnovers. On the boards, the Gators dominated 40-28, including a 16-7 edge on the offensive glass, but failed to capitalize with just six second-chance points, missing several easy put-back opportunities.
"We just weren't able to capitalize and score," Golden said after his big men went 10-for-23 at the rim. "We know that one area we need to improve upon quickly is just being more efficient offensively and finding a way to find more baskets."
The Gators have shown flashes of offensive rhythm, but not sustained consistency. On Tuesday, UF built a seven-point lead at 20-13 midway through the first quarter, only to miss 12 of its next 13 shots. During that stretch, UConn caught fire, making nine straight. Despite shooting just 30% compared to the Huskies’ 59% (including 5-for-10 from deep), the Gators managed to stay within reach, trailing 39-32 at halftime.
"They hit some tough ones in the first half," Golden said.
The Gators responded immediately after the break. Eight minutes into the second half, UF surged ahead when Thomas Haugh (18 points) buried a 3-pointer to give his team a 49-46 lead. During that span, the Gators hit eight of their first 11 shots while holding the Huskies to just 3-for-16 shooting.
Florida led 55-54 with eight minutes remaining, but UConn reignited offensively, converting 10 of its next 12 shots. Key 3-pointers from Karaban and Solo fueled a 12-3 run that pushed the Huskies to an eight-point advantage with just over four minutes left.
Thomas Haugh (10) flushes a lob, with the foul, in the second half Tuesday for two of his 18 points.
The margin was still eight after free throws from Tarris Reed Jr. (12 points, 5 rebounds) at the 1:13 mark, but a quick 9-4 surge by UF over the next 50 seconds — aided by a couple of missed UConn free throws — cut the deficit to 74-71 with 23 seconds left following a putback from Alex Condon (14 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks). With 14 seconds remaining, UF forced Jaydan Ross into a turnover on the sideline in front of the UF bench, giving the Gators possession down three.
That’s when point guard Boogie Fland, who had the last-second turnover in the loss at Duke, was unable to inbound the ball and was whistled for a five-second violation.
Golden was adamant the call came too quickly.
"I thought they called it early, man, to be honest," Golden said, noting that his staff timed the play at 4.6 and 4.7 seconds in the post-game locker room. "In a moment like that – I've been around the game for a long time – to get a call like that where it doesn't even get to 5 seconds … usually they give you an extra second, to be honest. Just a really, really tough pill to swallow."
The final result was sealed when Ball hit one of two free throws with 7.6 seconds left, making it a two-possession game.
There’s that old saying about "close" only counting in certain situations. Basketball isn’t one of them.
Still, UConn coach Dan Hurley acknowledged that, even with the MSG crowd behind his team, he had just been in a battle that went down to the wire against a coach and program with championship pedigree.
"They're as good as anybody," Hurley said.
Maybe so, but the Gators are still searching for more validation. Golden believes they’ll find it.
"I'm a pretty positive guy," he said.
With the Southeastern Conference season still three weeks away, there’s plenty of work ahead but also plenty of potential. Getting the backcourt in sync may be the first step toward turning "close" into wins.
"I think Boogie and I have had good games, individually, but we have to play well together – both at the same time," Lee said of his backcourt partner, who finished with eight points and one assist in a foul-plagued 22 minutes. "The bigs do what they do, but when it comes to crunch time we have to be a little more composed and execute better down the stretch. We're in all these games. We should be winning more, but we just have to keep our composure, settle down and execute better."
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.
