SUNRISE, Fla. – As the final handshakes and congratulations wrapped up late Saturday afternoon, the loudspeaker announced the Most Valuable Player of Florida’s 80-70 victory over George Washington in the Orange Bowl Classic: senior guard Xaivian Lee.

Moments later, Lee stood on a riser in the media room, fielding questions about his immediate reaction to receiving MVP honors.

"Honestly," Lee said. "My first thought was, 'They have an MVP for this?' "

Indeed, they do—and the Princeton transfer was the obvious selection after delivering 24 points, sinking four 3-pointers, collecting six rebounds, and distributing four assists across 36 minutes. He shot six of 10 from the field, four of eight from beyond the arc, and eight of 10 at the free-throw line.

With each basket and decisive play, his confidence visibly grew.

"Obviously, basketball is about making shots," Lee said. "I've tried to let it come, so to do it in a win is nice."

Coming off his 19-point performance in Tuesday’s loss to fifth-ranked Connecticut, Lee is steadily distancing himself from the rough eight-game start to his UF career, when he managed just 24.7% shooting overall and 21.1% from long range. It wasn’t the debut he envisioned at his new program.

"I never bought into it," GW coach Chris Caputo said of the early scouting reports on Lee. "You could see him getting more comfortable."

His teammates echoed that sentiment.

"We've always known what he can do," said junior wing Thomas Haugh, who played alongside Lee during their Pennsylvania prep school days. "Never a doubt."

Haugh also had a strong showing Saturday, contributing 19 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Boogie Fland added 10 points and five assists, while junior forward Alex Condon balanced a five-point outing with nine rebounds and seven assists. The Gators (6-4) erupted for 50 points on 67% shooting in the second half, building a 20-point cushion and snapping their two-game losing streak.

UF coach Todd Golden, however, wasn’t overly enthusiastic about a performance that featured a blistering 77.8% shooting inside the 3-point line, which helped balance out another rough outing (22.2%) from beyond the arc. His concern wasn’t about the poor perimeter shooting—where Gators named Xaivian went 2-for-19 and those not named Xaivian or Tommy went 0-for-11—but rather the recurring issues that have plagued the team in its four losses this season.

"As I told the guys, we're never going to be disappointed with a 10-point victory, [but] I do think we have a lot that we need to continue to improve upon, a lot in the areas that we say doesn't require much talent," Golden said. "I feel like we're trying, but we have not been consistent enough. It's really important for me and for 'X' and his teammates, over the next couple weeks, prior to and through the break before SEC play, to tighten up in those areas."

He specifically pointed to careless turnovers and late 50-50 plays that went George Washington’s way. The Revolutionaries (8-4) scored 25 points in the final eight minutes and twice trimmed the UF lead to eight with under two minutes left.

"[We] just weren't able to mentally hold ourselves accountable enough to finish possessions defensively and get shots on the rim on the offensive side," Golden said. "We can't be content being up 20 at that point. I kind of sound like a hard-ass, but we've got to win that game by 25 for me to be satisfied with our performance. We gave them life and let them back in the game a little bit. It wasn't what I was expecting the last 10 minutes."

What he wanted to see was more in line with the first 10 minutes of the second half, which was a clear improvement over a sluggish opening period. In the first half, the Gators shot just 36.7%, gave up 16 points in the paint, and held a slim 30-27 lead at halftime. The locker room talk focused on the fundamentals—the things that don’t require talent.

Those adjustments showed immediately after the break.

• The Gators opened with an 11-0 run to stretch the lead to 14.
• GW briefly halted the surge with a basket, but Lee responded with the first of his two 3-pointers in the half to keep momentum alive.
• Another 9-0 burst by GW cut the margin to 11, but three straight dunks—two by Thomas Haugh and one by Boogie Fland—pushed the lead back to 19 with under seven minutes remaining.

That was the moment Golden wanted to see his team display a killer instinct.

Instead, he felt the group fell short of its potential down the stretch.



"Whether down 10, up 10 or down 20, that shouldn't change [the approach] in our program," Golden said. "Our guys know from the amount of conversations we have on a daily basis how important that is to us. We're trying to be a championship team, so we have to hold ourselves to that standard for 40 minutes."