UF guard Will Richard (5) finishes a break in first-half action of Thursday night's "Sweet 16" defeat of Maryland at Chase Center.
SAN FRANCISCO – Since the start of the postseason, the Florida Gators have taken the floor in Nike warm-up shirts stamped with a simple two-word mantra:
"NOTHING EASY," it reads.
Lately, they’ve been living up to that phrase a little too literally.
The final score may suggest comfort, but Florida’s 87-71 win over fourth-seeded Maryland in Thursday’s NCAA West Region matchup was anything but smooth. The Gators only began to pull away in the last 10 minutes, after a first half filled with turnovers, the temporary loss of sophomore forward Alex Condon to an ankle injury, and the frustration of watching an 11-point lead evaporate into a late deficit.
Florida eventually steadied itself with a strong second half—shooting 53%, holding Maryland to 39%, dominating the boards, and leaning on its depth. The Terrapins’ short-handed “Crab Five” rotation couldn’t keep up, and the 87 points were the most allowed all season by a Maryland defense ranked sixth nationally in efficiency.
"We were a little casual with the basketball and put ourselves in predicaments that kept the game tight," UF coach Todd Golden said. "Second half, we did a much better job of taking care of it, thought we competed really well defensively and did a great job on the glass all night. With our ability to get shots [without turning it over], we were able to extend the lead."
Six Gators scored in double figures, led by senior wing Will Richard's 15 points, while graduate guard Alijah Martin added 14 points and seven rebounds. The win marked Florida’s ninth straight (and 15th in its last 16), improving to 33-4 and sending them to Saturday’s “Elite Eight” against third-seeded Texas Tech (28-8), which outlasted Arkansas 88-83 in overtime. The victor will advance to the Final Four in San Antonio.
Richard shot 6-for-9 from the field, including three triples, and added three assists. Senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored 13 points—12 of them before halftime—before his teammates carried the load after the break. Center Rueben Chinyelu contributed 10 points and eight rebounds, with most of his production coming in the second half.
Florida’s bench was a difference-maker, outscoring Maryland’s reserves 29-3. Forward Thomas Haugh delivered 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while guard Denzel Aberdeen chipped in 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including two three-pointers.
Even Condon returned to the floor, pushing through soreness to add six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes, nine of those minutes coming after halftime.
Junior guard Denzel Aberdeen buries a second-half 3-pointer on his way to 12 points.
"Florida is really good and they're deep," said Maryland coach Kevin Willard, whose starting five—accustomed to heavy minutes all season—ran into Florida’s relentless rotation in the "Sweet 16." "I think their bench was what really wore us down."
That was exactly the strategy. Todd Golden and his staff expected their depth and rebounding to wear down the Terrapins (27-9) as the game progressed, and by the second half, that’s what unfolded. Still, Florida made things harder than necessary with 13 first-half turnovers, which allowed Maryland—despite shooting just 42%—to trail only 40-38 at halftime.
"We got a little lazy in the first half," said Denzel Aberdeen, recalling how an early 11-point lead (20-9 through 11 minutes) slipped into a three-point deficit (30-27 with five minutes left before the break). "We were kind of being loose with the ball, not really paying attention to the guards coming from behind, tapping the ball out of our hands and stuff like that. But we picked it up the second half. We got together. We talked about it and said in order for us to win the game we have to take care of the ball."
Florida responded right out of halftime. Thomas Haugh sank two free throws, Alijah Martin drilled a three-pointer, and the Gators quickly stretched the margin to seven. Maryland briefly countered with consecutive baskets, but Rueben Chinyelu powered inside for three straight scores—two of them dunks—before another Martin three-pointer pushed the lead to 55-44 with 14 minutes remaining.
"We were able to keep our poise in the moment," Chinyelu said.
Center Rueben Chinyelu flushes two of his eight second-half points.
Maryland forward Derik Queen kept his team within striking distance, powering his way to 27 points on 8-for-17 shooting and a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. His three-pointer with 11:04 left trimmed the deficit to seven. Florida quickly answered—Denzel Aberdeen drove inside for a jumper, and Alijah Martin followed with a three-point play that stretched the lead back to 12 with 10 minutes to go.
Within three minutes, the margin had ballooned to 18.
It might have been that wide earlier if not for Florida’s sloppy first-half ball handling. Instead of a manageable eight turnovers, the Gators committed 13, which kept the game closer than it should have been.
"We were able to re-calibrate a little bit and the message was simple. We had to keep defending and obviously stay aggressive on the glass, but we had to do a better job of taking care of the ball," Todd Golden said. "We were elite in the second half."
Florida outscored Maryland 47-33 after halftime, dominated the boards with a 42-20 edge (including 15-7 on the offensive glass), and committed only three turnovers while dishing out 11 assists in the final 20 minutes.
Thomas Haugh (10) grabbed five offensive rebounds off the bench and combined with Rueben Chinyelu (9) for 19 total rebounds, as the Gators pummeled the Terrapins for a 42-20 overall advantage on the glass.
For Maryland, the defeat followed a turbulent backdrop—head coach Kevin Willard had recently voiced frustration about the program’s resources, alongside reports linking him to the coaching vacancy at Villanova. On this night, though, the shortage of depth was evident on the court. The Terps simply needed more contributors.
"We had a lot of defensive lapses, but they were capitalizing off of it," said Derik Queen. "They were making their 3s, their shots. If they didn't make it, they got the offensive rebound and repeated. Just kicked it out for 3s, layups. They just scored."
Still, the game wasn’t always that straightforward. Near the 11-minute mark of the second half, Maryland had trimmed the deficit to eight. With the shot clock winding down in Florida’s halfcourt, Alex Condon lost control of the ball and dove to the floor to recover it. From his back, he tried to push the ball toward the rim, hoping to reset the clock.
Instead, 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten snatched the ball midair and redirected it toward the basket. Though the initial attempt missed, he immediately tipped it back in, restoring a 10-point cushion.
"That's just 'Condo' making a great play, doing what he had to do," Alijah Martin said. "It was a back-breaker."
It was a pivotal moment—two critical points delivered by a player who had limped off earlier in the game. Nothing came easy for Florida, but that’s exactly the point.
If it were easy, everyone would manage it.
With the victory, Florida matched the third-highest win total in program history and advanced to its 10th Elite Eight, the first since 2017. On Saturday, the Gators will aim for what would be their sixth trip to the Final Four.
"It's been an amazing experience, and I'm not necessarily surprised," Todd Golden said. "We knew early we had a really great group of young men that would pull for each other and play the right way. Our team talent has really taken over. I thought that showed tonight in the second half with the way we kind of put our foot on the gas down the stretch."
Email senior writer Chris Harry @chrish@gators.ufl.edu
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