Florida Gators, Golden Pass Opening SEC Test

Gainesville, Fla. – The SEC is currently one of the strongest conferences in college hoops. Nine teams within it are currently ranked in the AP Top 25, and four others have received votes to be a top 25 team. 

And, while the Florida Gators would’ve preferred an easy start to the year, they were handed an early test that consisted of the No. 1, No. 6 and a previously ranked top 25 team to begin their SEC slate, which they passed with flying colors. 

To open SEC play, Florida was tasked with traveling to Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY., to take on the No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats. Unfortunately, for Gators head coach Todd Golden, 2025 didn’t start how he had expected. His team stumbled and lost their first game of conference play, 106-100. 

A lot of the loss boils down to their poor defensive effort, especially defending the three-point line, and missed free throws. The Wildcats hit 14 triples – half of them coming from one player, Koby Brea – while the Gators missed 13 free throws. This can’t occur if they want to win the big games. 

Some players or teams could’ve let this loss demoralize them and let it bleed over into the next game or two. However, that didn’t happen for the Gators. They made sure to use the agony from this loss and channel it into the next game against Tennessee. 

Just a few days after this loss, they welcomed the number one team in the country to Gainesville and handed them one of the worst losses an AP No. 1 would have in a while. 

Florida dismantled Tennessee 73-43 behind Alijah Martin’s 18 points, but it was the defensive effort that would be talked about after the game. 

The Volunteers were held to just 21.4 percent from the field in this game, going 12-for-56 overall. Additionally, their offense was just 4-for-29 from deep. It also didn’t help that they missed 10 of their 25 free throws. 

This extremely ugly offensive display from the Volunteers led to Florida’s first regular-season win over an AP No. 1-ranked team in program history and the largest win over a No. 1-ranked team in the NCAA since 1968. 

“It’s hard to say when you host the No. 1 team in the country that you expect to win, but I think our program did going into this game tonight,” Golden said after the game. 

Even if you expect to win, to win like that after a heartbreaking loss in the previous game is wild. 

But while they may have had a night to celebrate this victory, that’s all they had because, in the SEC, games fly at you head-on one after the other and will not wait for you to be ready. 

Luckily for Golden, his guys were prepared for Arkansas. Albeit a scrappy one, the Gators clawed out a 71-63 win over the Razorbacks on Saturday. 

And, despite another poor outing from Walter Clayton Jr., it was sophomore Alex Condon and Martin who stepped up big time for the Gators in this one. Condon stuffed the stat sheet against the Razorbacks, ending with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. He also provided the kill shots against his opponents, dropping in a huge three-pointer and tough layup on back-to-back possessions heading into the final minutes of the game. 

So, despite many thinking that the Gators’ rather easy non-conference schedule would come back to bite them and cause them to falter in their opening SEC games, they came out on top and passed it with relative ease. 

Furthermore, being put to the test early and having two very difficult road games handed to them to begin 2025 will only benefit them as time goes on. Florida now has two straight home games and three of their next four games will be at home as well. 

Should they come out of this next stretch of games untouched, which is definitely within the realm of possibility, then they will be one of the clear favorites for the SEC.