The No. 1 Florida Gators got the result they needed in Tallahassee, even if the performance left plenty for Todd Golden to sort through later.
Florida held off Florida State 81-72 on Tuesday night, spending most of the game in front and improving to 3-0 on the season. It was the Gators’ second win over an ACC opponent, and their “big three” made sure they would finish their careers undefeated against FSU.
But this was not a clean road outing. Florida was sloppy, inefficient and at times far too generous with the ball, which kept the Seminoles hanging around longer than they should have.
The closing stretch belonged to Thomas Haugh and Boogie Fland. Haugh, a senior forward, missed a free throw but still helped set the tone late by putting Florida up eight with 34.6 seconds left. Fland immediately forced a turnover after that miss, and the Gators never let the game slip back into doubt.
Haugh’s night was the kind that wins games on the road. He finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, then took over late by drawing contact deep in the paint and knocking down four straight free throws to push Florida to a game-high 11-point lead with 2:31 remaining.
Fland, back from a shoulder injury, gave Florida 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, though he also had four turnovers. He answered Florida State’s push after the Gators had opened up an eight-point lead early in the second half, scoring an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it a nine-point game with 11 minutes left.
Florida State kept punching back. After Florida moved ahead by eight, the Seminoles used three turnovers to fuel a 7-0 run.
Later, when the Gators went 4:43 between baskets and missed four straight shots, FSU trimmed the margin again with an 8-2 burst. Junior guard Urban Klavžar then steadied Florida with an 8-0 run of his own, helping push the lead to 10.
The Seminoles hit four of five shots during that stretch to avoid getting buried.
The first half was just as messy. Florida went through a five-minute stretch without a field goal, then ripped off a 12-2 run to go ahead by five with 7:37 left. The Gators eventually led by six, but Florida State answered with 10 of the final 16 points in the half and briefly grabbed the lead before Florida went into the break up two.
The shot profile was wild. Florida launched 19 3-pointers in the first half alone, making six, while going just 3 of 8 at the line.
The Gators were also outscored 14-10 in the paint despite owning a 22-16 rebounding edge. No Florida player had reached double figures by halftime, and Klavžar started 0 of 4 from deep.
Florida’s free throws turned into a major separator after the break. The Gators went 27 of 33 from the line in the second half, including 17 of 20 over the final 3:07.
They also finished 15 of 19 on free throws overall and shot 50% from 3-point range on the night, with sophomore guard Isaiah Brown providing a useful spark off the bench. Brown scored 8 points in 12 minutes, hit 2 of 3 from deep and added three rebounds.
Klavžar had a rough shooting night, finishing 1 of 7 from beyond the arc, but he made all seven of his free throws during a key stretch and also recorded a steal. He was one of three Florida guards to pick up a steal, along with Fland and Brown.
Not everything went smoothly for the Gators’ veterans. Senior forward Alex Condon finished one point shy of a double-double, but he also had a game-high five turnovers and went 1 of 5 from the line. Senior guard Denzel Aberdeen shot 1 of 4 from long range and added three assists.
Florida’s problems were mostly team-wide, though the numbers tell the story clearly enough: 14 turnovers, too many empty possessions, and a long stretch where the Gators looked nothing like the polished road team they wanted to be. They were also out of sync in the paint and at times looked rattled by the atmosphere.
Even so, they found a way. That is the part that will matter most when Golden starts digging into the film.
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