Starkville, Miss. – Florida Responds After Early Scare

From the Florida bench, sophomore forward Thomas Haugh felt a sinking moment just 30 seconds into Tuesday night’s contest. His close friend and fellow forward Alex Condon went down clutching his right ankle in visible pain.

"It sucked, I'm not going to lie," Haugh said afterward. "I had flashbacks to the SEC Tournament last year."

That memory was of center Micah Handlogten’s injury in the SEC championship game, when a broken leg ended his season and the Gators ultimately lost the title matchup. This time, however, the outcome was different. X-rays on Condon came back negative, and Florida didn’t lose the game either.

Trailing by one at halftime, the third-ranked Gators erupted in the second half with a barrage of three-pointers and relentless defense. The surge overwhelmed No. 22 Mississippi State, leaving the Bulldogs unable to recover, as Florida secured an 81–68 road win in their SEC clash at Humphrey Coliseum.

Just three days after stunning No. 1 Auburn on the road without second-leading scorer Alijah Martin (hip pointer), Florida (21–3, 8–3 SEC) followed it up by defeating another ranked opponent away from home—a first in program history. The Gators accomplished it without both Martin and Alex Condon, who together average 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 67 minutes per game.

"I'm incredibly proud of our team," UF coach Todd Golden said, repeating a familiar postgame sentiment during what is shaping up to be the program’s best season in a decade. "Our team has continued to show a great next-man-up mentality. We've got to keep it going. It's not going to be easy, but this team has shown great resolve over the last week and a half."

Asked about the team’s edge, Thomas Haugh explained: "Coach Golden has engraved a toughness in us."

That toughness has carried Florida through three straight wins, each without a full roster. Against Vanderbilt, they were missing Walter Clayton Jr. (ankle). At Auburn, Martin was sidelined. And at Mississippi State (17–7, 5–6), both Martin and Condon were unavailable.

"It was sad to see, but we picked him up," junior guard Denzel Aberdeen said of Condon’s early injury. "Tommy came in and did what he had to do."

Everyone stepped up. Again.

Florida had five players reach double figures. Denzel Aberdeen matched his career high with 20 points, adding four rebounds and two assists in a career-best 32 minutes. Thomas Haugh, filling in for Alex Condon, nearly posted a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds, a career-high eight assists, plus two steals and two blocks in 37 minutes. Walter Clayton Jr. delivered another standout performance with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists, and only one turnover across 37 minutes. Senior guard Will Richard chipped in 10 points, while sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu added 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks in a season-high 30 minutes.

The Gators shot 45.9 percent overall, but nearly 55 percent after halftime, including 8-of-16 from three. Their second-half barrage of threes combined with defensive pressure forced turnovers from one of the SEC’s top offenses, fueling transition opportunities.

"The first five minutes of the second half, we did a great job of getting misses and not allowing them to get second chances," Golden said. "We were able to get out in transition, which we weren't able to do in the first half."

Florida’s early adversity came when Condon, the 6-foot-11 SEC Player of the Week, landed awkwardly on Mississippi State forward RJ Melendez’s foot just 30 seconds into the game. Trainers carried him to the locker room, and Golden gathered the team for a prayer.

The first half was a grind. Florida shot just 36.7 percent, went 6-of-20 from deep, and was outrebounded 26–16, including 8–2 on the offensive glass. Mississippi State struggled too, hitting 36.4 percent overall and only 2-of-15 from three. The Bulldogs led 34–33 at the break.

In the locker room, Golden emphasized rebounding, stressing that without Condon, box-outs had to improve and guards needed to help on the glass. Offensively, he urged the team to keep shooting.

"We were playing the right way," Golden said of his offense.

That approach carried into the second half—with one key difference.

"The ones we missed in the first half, we hit 'em in the second half," Aberdeen said.

Denzel Aberdeen opened the second half with a three-pointer that gave Florida the lead for good. Minutes later, Will Richard connected from deep to cap a 9–0 surge, forcing Mississippi State coach Chris Jans to call a timeout. The pause didn’t slow the Gators.

Out of the break, Walter Clayton Jr. drained another three, Thomas Haugh followed with one of his own, and Aberdeen converted a turnover into a fast-break dunk. That sequence fueled a 17–0 run—the team’s second-largest of the season—that stretched the margin to 50–34 and brought another timeout from Jans.

At that stage, Florida had six field goals, four of them from beyond the arc, while Mississippi State had yet to score a basket and had committed six turnovers.

"I just was shocked that that's how we were playing," Jans said. "We just didn't have the type of urgency and fight that we showed the majority in the first half."



The Bulldogs, led by Josh Hubbard’s 19 points and seven from former Gator Riley Kugel, shot 48 percent after halftime, but most of those makes came after Florida’s decisive burst.

"We got those two kills in a row – six straight [defensive] stops -- and that just sparked it," Haugh said of the lead that ballooned to 24 and never dipped below 14. "And then we just hit shots. We hit a bunch of 3s and put the nail in the coffin."

Florida’s offense was clicking again, as the team dished out 19 assists against Mississippi State—coming on the heels of 20 versus Vanderbilt and 22 at Auburn, for a total of 61 over the last three games. Turnovers were limited to just eight, while the Gators knocked down 37 threes across that stretch at a 41 percent clip.

And the last two performances came on the road against NCAA Tournament-caliber opponents.

"We're competing to win the league," said Todd Golden, whose squad is tied with Texas A&M for third in the SEC, two games behind Auburn and Alabama. "Winning a game like this allows [us] to stay in the conversation."

The victory was made sweeter by avoiding a major setback with Alex Condon. Entering the night averaging 11.1 points and 8.0 rebounds, he was taken to Mississippi State’s football facility for X-rays after his early ankle injury. He later returned to the arena diagnosed with a low-ankle sprain.

Midway through the second half, Thomas Haugh spotted Condon on crutches near the tunnel.

"He was laughing at me," Haugh said with a grin.



For this Florida team, there’s plenty to smile about—and for Condon, plenty to be grateful for.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu