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Florida keeps flirting with greatness and settling for frustration

In all four losses, Florida was within three points and had the ball with less than a minute to play
ByBenjamin Henderson|
Dec 9, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Florida Gators guard Xaivian Lee (1) takes a three point shot past UConn Huskies guard Solo Ball (1) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Dec 9, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Florida Gators guard Xaivian Lee (1) takes a three point shot past UConn Huskies guard Solo Ball (1) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Nine games into defending their national title crown, and it would be easy to write off the Gators as serious contenders to repeat in 2026. Florida is now 5-4 on the season after losing to UConn, which matches their loss total for all of last season. 

In one breath, Florida is a lot closer than some will probably admit to being really dangerous once March rolls around. In another breath, the magic that carried Florida last March doesn’t look like it will walk through that door anytime soon.

Florida falls to 5-4 on the season

Ignoring everything else that happened in the game, Florida had the ball with nine seconds left, down by three with a chance to tie. Instead, Boogie Fland was called for a five-second violation trying to inbound the ball, and that was that.

It follows the trend of what has happened in Florida’s other three losses coming into Tuesday’s contest:

  • Arizona - Down three with 43 seconds left, Fland missed a wide-open three
  • TCU - Down two with 19 seconds left, Thomas Haugh missed a three
  • Duke - After taking the lead with 35 seconds left, only to give up a three with 21 seconds left to go down by one, Fland dribbled the ball off his foot with four seconds left

It’s not fair to pin these losses all on Fland, as Xaivian Lee has had his own fair share of struggles, and Florida’s guards off the bench have been hit or miss, but it highlights two truths for this team as non-conference play winds down:

  1. If Florida’s three-point shooting could just improve to even 30% the Gators could be undefeated right now.
  2. Part of what made Florida’s quartet of guards special last year was their ability to close in the clutch.

Walter Clayton Jr.’s shots against Texas Tech and UConn last March will forever go down in Gator lore, but Will Richard had his moments too (such as stepping up in the first half against Houston or his game-winning shot against South Carolina), as did Alijah Martin (he drew the foul against Houston to set up the game-winning free throws in addition to his dunks against Auburn).

One just doesn’t get the sense that Fland, Lee, Klavzar, or anyone else in Florida’s backcourt is ready to step up and be that guy.

If they do, though, have the faintest of improvement, don’t bury the Gators just yet for 2026.

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