Over the offseason, the Florida Gators and head coach Todd Golden celebrated their National Championship the only way they knew how: by bringing in an elite class of transfer portal prospects.
One of the most notable pickups was guard Xaivian Lee, who played three seasons for the Princeton Tigers before joining Florida. Over the first five games of the year, Lee has fallen extremely short of expectations.
Now, let's put his career into perspective a little bit before you judge the point guard solely on his first five games with the Gators.
Why did Florida recruit Xaivian Lee from Princeton?
During his time with the Tigers, Lee averaged a career-season high of 17.1 points during his sophomore year and earned a career-high 6.1 rebounds per game last season. During Princeton's 2024-25 campaign, he also earned 5.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
Simply put, even though he was "just" playing in the Ivy League, Lee was still an extremely attractive recruit when he entered the portal.
Over his first five games at Florida, his stats have fallen through the floor, earning just 7.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Far from his career highs and far from the lofty expectations the Gators had for him.
Ivy League to SEC jump is no joke pic.twitter.com/8NiXHofthj
— College Basketball Content (@CBBcontent) November 24, 2025
Despite his slow start, Golden has continued to list Lee in the starting lineup, and over the past four games, the roster rotation has worked well for the Gators as they have gone on a four-game winning streak.
However, with the No. 5 UConn Huskies and No. 4 Duke Blue Devils just over the horizon, Lee and the rest of the team need to make sure they are playing at their very best levels in order to ensure that their winning streak continues ahead of SEC play.
Up next, the No. 10 Gators are scheduled to host the unranked TCU Horned Frogs on Thursday, Nov. 27, at 3 p.m. ET. The non-conference matchup will be aired on FS1.