Florida may have walked off the court with a comfortable win over Dartmouth, but inside that locker room, the tone was anything but celebratory. For forwards Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, the final score told only part of the story - and not the part they’re focused on.
Both players took the mic postgame and didn’t hold back. The second half?
Not good enough. The team’s energy dipped, the defensive discipline wavered, and Dartmouth - a squad Florida had buried under a 32-point lead - found daylight from beyond the arc.
That’s not the standard this Gators team is chasing.
“We got complacent,” Condon admitted. “We were up big, and we let them creep back in. If we want to be a great team, we’ve got to do it for all 40 minutes.”
That’s the message being preached - not just by the coaching staff, but from within the locker room itself. Condon, Chinyelu and fellow frontcourt presence Tommy Haugh are taking on the responsibility of leading from the inside out. They’re not just trying to win games; they’re trying to build habits that hold up under SEC lights, and hopefully beyond.
Chinyelu, who posted another double-double in the win, brushed off his individual numbers. He’s not interested in stat lines unless they come with a full-team buy-in to the details - especially the scouting report.
“We let them feed on what they know,” Chinyelu said, referencing Dartmouth’s second-half success from three. “That’s their strong suit, and we’ve got to make them do something different.
Stick to the scout, take care of business. That’s the message.”
This wasn’t a case of a team sleepwalking through a win. It was a group that knows it has bigger goals and isn’t satisfied with checking the box. Condon pointed to the team’s rebounding dominance as a bright spot - a reflection of size, effort, and attention to one of the game’s most controllable areas.
“Every time we get a shot on the rim, it’s a good thing,” Condon said. “We’ve got three guys crashing - 6-9, 6-11, 7-foot - every time. The more shots we get up, the more chances we have to own the glass.”
But even that doesn’t mean much if the team doesn’t lock in for the full 40. And with SEC play looming, the margin for error shrinks.
Condon spoke like a player ready for the step up in competition. After a stretch of games against mid- and low-major opponents, the Gators are hungry for a challenge - and they’re using these tune-ups to fine-tune the mentality they’ll need moving forward.
“We’ve had a really good week of practice,” Condon said. “We’ve been pros about it.
But now it’s time. SEC play is coming, and we’re ready for it.”
Chinyelu echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that the team’s internal leadership is setting the tone daily - not just in games, but in the way they approach every rep, every drill, every walk-through.
“This is business,” Chinyelu said. “We step on the court and we take care of business.
That’s the mindset. We’re getting better every day, and the guys are feeding off that.”
He made it clear that winning - even by 20-plus - isn’t the end goal. It’s winning the right way. That means sticking to the scout, executing possessions, and not letting up when the scoreboard tilts in your favor.
“It’s not about them,” Chinyelu said. “It’s about us.
How can we execute? How can we stay connected?
Because once we do that, everything else falls into place.”
There’s no panic in Gainesville - far from it. But there’s urgency. The kind that comes from a team with postseason aspirations and leaders who know that the habits you build in December are the ones that show up in March.
For Florida, the message is simple: win the right way, or it doesn’t count.