When Florida lost to Baylor in an exhibition game on Sunday, the main headline was the Gators going 4-for-29 from three-point range. Denzel Aberdeen went 0-for-10 from three-point range as Florida lost 82-76 in overtime.
But what's lost in the main headline is a potential flaw with the Gators that was a hidden problem last year and reared its head in the exhibition loss.
Florida needs more from its bench in 2026-27
Last year, Florida was 172nd in bench points per game. For a team that was 11th overall in points per game, that’s pretty low, as the bench accounted for just 24% of their points last year. In Florida’s shocking NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa, the Gators got just eight points off the bench, which was 11% of their scoring.
In Sunday’s loss to Baylor, just three of Florida’s 76 points came from the bench.
What’s notable about Sunday’s game was how Todd Golden rotated his bench. Last year, Micah Handlogten was used around 10 to 20 minutes per game as Florida often opted to keep three big men on the court to pair with two guards. On Sunday, Golden’s rotation was guard-heavy, with Urban Klavzar, Isaiah Brown, and AJ Brown getting the nod off the bench while Viktor Mikic got just one minute of playing time.
All three of those guards combined to go 1-10 from three.
Now we don’t expect that to be the case all season long. Klavzar hit 40.6% from three last year. Isaiah Brown shot 34.6% from three last year, and while his brother AJ Brown was hurt last year, he shot 38.8% from three during the 2024-25 season at Ohio.
Get that level of production on Sunday, and Florida wins with room to spare.
But much like the loss to Iowa, there will be a narrative about who steps up and stays consistent once the real season begins. Because for as lethal as Florida’s starting five can be, the issue last year is that if Alex Condon or Thomas Haugh had an off night, seldom was someone else stepping up to shoulder the load.
Florida will have one more exhibition game against Stetson before the season begins for real on November 2 in Tampa against Miami.
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