LAS VEGAS – Florida coach Todd Golden sought a challenge for his squad in its first game as the reigning NCAA champion. He got it, all right, along a preview of what the proverbial bulls-eye the Gators wear on their jerseys will bring out of opponents during the 2025-26 season. 
 
Not that the Arizona Wildcats were a garden-variety foe.
 
Beastly freshman forward Koa Peat and crafty senior point guard Jaden Bradley combined for 57 points, including 17 from the free-throw line, and the 13^th-ranked Wildcats handed the Gators a 93-87 defeat in their hyped-up Hall of Fame Series showdown Monday night at rowdy T-Mobile Arena.
 
The 2025-26 opening-night environment had the feel of a second-weekend NCAA Tournament game, with the Wildcats feeding off the partisan crowd and taking the action – in brutally physical fashion – right at the Gators (0-1) in over-matching and outplaying their veteran, title-tested front court. Peat, the 6-foot-8, 235-pound McDonald’s All American, put in 11 of his 18 shots, eight of 12 free throws, grabbed seven rebounds, dished five assists and had three steals. Bradley went 9-for-14 from the floor, nine of 10 at the line, with five assists and two steals. 
 
Arizona (1-0), for the better part of the night, just put the two standouts in middle ball screens and let them go to work. 
 
“Koa is tough to guard when he gets that downhill run and we just weren’t able to match his physicality on a couple plays,” Golden said. “He did a good job of putting some us in the basket.”
 
How good? Arizona shot 49.2% for the game (with just five 3-point attempts) and got to the free-throw line a whopping 38 times, sinking 31 of them (81.6%). The Wildcats’ aggression carried over at the other end, where they held the Gators to just under 43% for the game – only 7-for-27 from the 3-point line (26%) – including 36.8% after halftime when UA also forced nine of UF’s 15 turnovers. The Wildcats even out-rebounded the Gators 41-39.
 
Florida was led by junior Thomas Haugh, who in his first game playing the wing “3” spot scored a career-high 27 points over a game-high 38 minutes, going 12-for-14 at the free-throw line. Backup center Micah Handlogten came off the bench to make all five of his field-goal tries to finish with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. 
 
The rest of the Gators, including the new-look backcourt of transfer guards Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, struggled throughout most of the game. That went for UF’s two returning and starting bigs in junior forward Alex Condon, who tallied 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists, but six turnovers, and Rueben Chinyelu, who had only four points and one rebound. Both players fouled out in addition to having their issues dealing with the hard-driving Peat. 

“Our bigs, as a group, we need to be the best front court in the nation,” Haugh said, including himself in that lot. “We can’t let someone like that come out and score 30 points against us. That’s unacceptable. Won’t happen moving forward.”
 
Added Fland, the transfer from Arkansas: “I felt we learned a lot about ourselves today. [Arizona] showed fight and grit, and just didn’t match it. … We definitely could have been better on the defensive end, but as bad as we played, we still gave ourselves a chance. It’s a lesson, not a step back.”
 
The combo of Fland and Lee finished with 23 points, eight assists, four steals and just two turnovers, but also combined to go just 8-for 26 from the floor overall and three of 13 from distance. 
 
“I just think we weren’t our usual selves. The things we pride ourselves on – guarding, rebounding, being physical, making shots – I just don’t think we did any of that on the level we can,” said Lee, who had 14 points on five of 17 from the floor and three of 11 from the arc. “That being said, I’m not too worried. I think we’ll do those things more time than not, so this was a good game to learn from. I think me and Boogie have to be better. Me especially. I need to make more shots.” 

Lee, the Princeton transfer, made his first shot, a 3-pointer, to start the game. The Gators surged ahead to lead by 12 three different times, the last at the midway point of the period. That’s when Peat and Bradley started to take charge. 
 
“I told our guys, these games are crazy and they’re emotional but they’re long, so take a breath,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said.
 
After starting the game just 5-for-13 from the floor, the Wildcats hit 12 of 19 shots over the final nine-plus minutes, outscoring the Gators 30-14 during that span, and taking a 50-46 lead to the locker room at the break. 
 
Arizona shot 53 percent for the half.
 
“The way we play is very complimentary,” Golden said. “But when we’re pulling the ball out of the net every time it’s really hard to get out in transition, get early baskets and play the way we want to play.”

The trend continued after intermission, with the Wildcats taking the lead out to nine with 16 minutes to go. The Gators, behind Haugh, whittled away and used a seven-point run to tie the game at 67 inside eight minutes to go, and again at 70 inside seven minutes after a Lee 3-pointer. 
 
Then came back-to-back, crowd-pleasing slams by Peat, with UA slowly building the margin back to eight, 86-78, with 1:40 left. Still, UF did not go quietly. The Gators scored and used full-court pressure to force late turnovers and close within three, 88-85, with 43.4 seconds left, forcing an Arizona timeout when the Wildcats could not get the ball under their basket.
 
Out of the stoppage, Fland stole the ball and his defender slipped to the floor, giving the new Gator a wide-open look at a game-tying 3. 
 
“Too open, I guess,” Fland said, whose jumper rimmed short. “As a kid, you dream of being able to take a shot like that.”
 
The Wildcats finished the game by converting free throws and left the arena with a pretty prestigious scalp. That of a champion. 
 
A proud champion that boarded its long charter flight home in a sour mood.
 
“We’re a high-floor program. We rebound well, we take care of the ball, and that’s going to usually give us a great chance to win, and we were deficient in both those areas [Monday] and we’re walking out here with a six-point loss,” Golden said. “I’m super disappointed we lost, but the reason why we played this game was to give ourselves a really good opportunity to get a quality win. I don’t think anybody is going to hold this loss over our head moving forward, and I do think it gives us a great opportunity to teach our team.”
 
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu Find his story archives here.