Coming into this week, it looked like Xaivian Lee was going to go down as one of the busts in all of college basketball from the offseason transfer portal cycle. Todd Golden has kept showing faith in Lee, but it was clear Lee’s game wasn’t translating to the Gators as there was very little he could seemingly do well.
But Golden has continued to put Lee on the court for hopes of a turnaround, and after Florida’s 80-70 win over George Washington, it appears Golden’s patience is starting to pay off.
Xaivian Lee has his 2nd straight strong game for Florida
Lee led the way with 24 points in 35 minutes, and the most encouraging thing for Florida was that Lee was 4-8 from three, and he was far more efficient than he was against UConn. He also chipped in with six rebounds and four assists.
Lee was also key in drawing fouls all game and was 8-10 from the free throw line. George Washington as a whole committed 24 fouls to Florida’s 14.
Many of the other typical storylines rang true for Florida as well as Thomas Haugh had 19 points and seven rebounds, and Micah Handlogten came off the bench and had three blocks in 15 minutes of action.
What put this game out of reach for good was Florida’s 11-0 run to start the second half, and it took a game that was 30-27 at halftime to 41-27 in just 2:30. Florida would get all the way up to a 20-point lead with 12:30 to play before some of the familiar warts of the 2025-26 Gators did start to take hold.
Even with Lee’s strong shooting performance, Florida as a whole was just 6-27 from three, and a two-minute sequence that featured four Florida turnovers took that 20-point lead and allowed George Washington to make a 9-0 run of their own. The Gators responded with another 7-0 run of their own to put any doubt of the game to rest.
While Florida didn’t cover the spread, beating George Washington is going to be a better win than advertised. The Revolutionaries are a top 90 KenPom team who could work themselves into the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation with a strong showing in the A10.
Florida will have three more mid-major opponents before opening SEC play against Missouri.