Florida men’s basketball junior Thomas Haugh has been named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Top 20 Preseason List, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Thursday. The Malone Award is part of the Naismith Starting 5 positional awards.
 
Haugh averaged 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds as Florida’s sixth man on the 2025 national championship team. Haugh had four double-doubles and led the Gators in rebounding on eight occasions last season, also the only player to score in all 40 games for Florida. The New Oxford, Pa., native earned 2025 NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team honors after posting 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Gators’ Elite Eight win vs. Texas Tech. He has been the recipient of preseason second-team All-SEC honors by media vote heading into the 2025-26 campaign.
 
Haugh joins teammates Boogie Fland (Bob Cousy Award) and Xaivian Lee (Jerry West Award) as preseason Naismith Starting 5 honorees. The Malone Award has been presented since 2015, and Haugh is the first Gator to make its watch list since Dorian Finney-Smith (2015-16).
 
Karl Malone Award Preseason Watch List

Koa Peat	Arizona
Keyshawn Hall	Auburn
Michael Rataj	Baylor
Alex Karaban	UConn
Cameron Boozer	Duke
Thomas Haugh	Florida
Graham Ike	Gonzaga
Joseph Tugler	Houston
Alvaro Folgueiras	Iowa
Joshua Jefferson	Iowa State
Malik Reneau	Miami
Yaxel Lendeborg	Michigan
Caleb Wilson	North Carolina
Nick Martinelli	Northwestern
Trey Kaufman-Renn	Purdue
Baye Ndongo	Georgia Tech
Bryce Hopkins	St. John’s
Donnie Freeman	Syracuse
JT Toppin	Texas Tech
Tyler Bilodeau	UCLA

 
2025-26 Florida Men’s Basketball Ticket Information
Traditional season tickets are officially SOLD OUT for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
 
Arena Pass
Arena Passes are officially SOLD OUT for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
 
Single Games
Single-game tickets for the 2025-26 Florida men’s basketball season are now on sale.
 
Fans can purchase tickets at FloridaGators.com, by calling the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683, or in person at Gate 2 on the west side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
 
All Gators Weekend Pack
The All Gators Weekend Pack is now available, which includes the Florida men’s basketball game against Merrimack on Friday, November 21, and the Florida football game against Tennessee on Saturday, November 22, for only $149 plus taxes/fees.
 
All fans attending the Merrimack men’s basketball game will receive a 2025 NCAA National Championship replica ring, presented by Meldon Law.
 

The Florida Gators’ wideouts will line up against one of the most athletic corners in the SEC in Georgia’s Daylen Everette.

UF needs to immediately minimize his impact to win Saturday’s rivalry matchup. With interim coach Billy Gonzales looking to push the Gators towards bowl eligibility, the offense needs to start fast and succeed in the passing game consistently.

Target Him Early

Target him early. While he plays an effective corner, he is not a true lockdown corner to be feared and avoided. In fact, Florida needs to keep up the pressure. Granted, Everette is a tanky corner (6-1, 190 pounds) with good speed, but he possesses many flaws that the Gators need to take advantage of. Somewhere along the way, the Florida wideouts will beat him.

UF just needs to exercise patience.

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Double Moves and Rub Routes

Although Everette can run with most wideouts, his speed and explosion reside along a straight line. Under those circumstances, quick cuts and double moves appear to be a winning proposition. Everette fails to adjust in full stride, needing to gather steps to self-correct. A quicker wideout like Eugene Wilson III, who will see many snaps on Saturday in place of the injured Vernell Brown III, and provided he can beat the press, can leave Everette behind for big plays.

Moreover, Everette’s overt agility issue will cost him time attempting to either slide under or veer over pick plays. That lost step could cost the Bulldogs yards.

Missing Tackles

While a willing tackler, Everette’s approach and technique are still unrefined, even for a senior with 48 games of experience.

Without much of an ability to break down in space, his aggressiveness places him in positions that fleet-footed wideouts can stop and turn, while Everette flies by. The Georgia corner is a reacher, throwing his arms at the ball carrier, usually seeing the opponent maintain balance through contact. Florida should run Jadan Baugh in his direction. The senior defender must persevere through the challenge and execute the play.

Bottom Line

Everette is unquestionably the most talented defensive back in Georgia. With his explosion, experience, and drive, he should be a bit further along than he is now.

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Gonzales, the wide receivers coach, knows the talent in that position group, as he recruited the majority of them. The offensive line will give DJ Lagway time to throw due to Georgia’s lack of defensive line push. Now, if they can run routes at or around Everett, the rest of the secondary will fall.

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Florida law-enforcement and public-health leaders on Wednesday unveiled a first-of-its-kind artificial-intelligence system designed to detect and warn communities about new drug threats before they become fatal.

The platform, called DrugAlert.ai was announced at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office alongside Sheriff Dennis Lemma and Project Overdose CEO Andrae Bailey. The system uses machine-learning to scan statewide drug data in real time, including toxicology screenings, EMS calls, arrest records and street-level intelligence, then issues alerts when dangerous substances emerge.

[WATCH BELOW: Fentanyl awareness taught in Osceola County with community event]

Lemma said the system could change how agencies fight the overdose crisis.

“I’m convinced this will be the model that is used across the country,” Lemma said.

Project Overdose confirmed the system had already generated its first statewide DrugTRAC alert, after carfentanil, one of the most lethal synthetic opioids ever identified, was detected in multiple Florida counties, including Orange and Seminole.

Bailey said the AI platform closes a critical time gap that once left communities blind for months.

“Data we used to work with was six months to a year old,” Bailey said. “The data coming through this system will be no older than 24 hours.”

[WATCH BELOW: New X-ray tech coming to Fla. agricultural stations to help combat illegal immigration, drugs]

Officials warned the technology is launching as Florida enters what researchers are calling the “fourth wave” of the overdose crisis, defined by mixtures of opioids, stimulants and synthetics that change too fast for human tracking.

Lemma said the tool allows police, hospitals and service providers to target resources faster and more precisely.

“Project Overdose has connected the dots like never before, public sector, private sector, the faith community, businesses, everybody is involved,” Lemma said.

Project Overdose confirmed Florida will use the alerts statewide and will issue targeted warnings ahead of large events, including next week’s EDC music festival, where officials anticipate increased drug activity.