NASHVILLE, Tenn. – This is a “Then vs. Now” story.
 
First, the then.
 
Midway through the 2025-26 season, the Florida basketball team needed Urban Klavzar. The Gators had injury issues in the backcourt and needed him for depth, for toughness and, most importantly, for his 3-point shooting. With Walter Clayton Jr. sidelined and Alijah Martin playing hurt, Todd Golden tabbed Klavzar, the 6-foot-1 European transplant, to provide a boost off the bench, despite having made just three of 16 attempts from deep in his 11 brief collegiate appearances. 
 
The Slovenian sniper delivered. 
 

Over the next five games, Klavzar buried nine of 13 from the arc – he went 2-for-2 in a huge home win over Vanderbilt sans Clayton; then 3-for-3 in an even bigger road upset of No. 1 Auburn minus Martin – to announce himself to Gator Nation. 
 
But as the Gators got healthy and steamrolled into the postseason, the team’s rotation got tighter and Klavzar’s minutes began to shrink. He made brief appearances in the three 2025 Southeastern Conference Tournament games and in the first three NCAA Tournament games, with his final minutes of the season coming in mop-up duty of a rout of Maryland in the West Region semifinal. Klavzar watched (and cheered) from the bench as the team rolled over, in order, Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, Auburn in the Final Four and Houston in the NCAA championship game. 
 
“Mentally, it’s not easy when you’re not playing very much or struggling or maybe worrying about making a mistake and being taken out of the game. I’d never been like that before, but I was like that then,” Klavzar said of his late-season relegation to the UF bench. “When I talked to Todd and the coaches after the season we talked about me taking the next step going into this season.”
 
And that step? 
 
“A lot of it was up to him,” Golden said. “We could see the vision for him, but he had to come back with a little more confidence.”
 
OK. Here’s the now. 
 
[Read senior writer Chris Harry‘s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
 
When the top-seeded and fourth-ranked Gators (25-6) take the floor for their 2026 SEC Tournament opener in Friday’s quarterfinals against 9-seed Kentucky (21-12) at Bridgestone Arena, Klavzar won’t be wondering when or if he’ll checking into the game. His role – and his value to one of the best and hottest teams in the country – is set in stone after averaging 9.9 points, shooting a team-best 40.6% from the 3-point line and being named SEC Sixth Man of the Year. 
 
“I thought I’d probably be in the running, but I didn’t think they’d give it to me,” the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Slovenian said of the honor announced Monday. “I’m just really happy that they see what I’m doing off the bench and how I’m helping the team win.”
 

Urban legend 😤 pic.twitter.com/N0Gbf7S4k3

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 9, 2026

Klavzar, who took the Euro professional rout to the Gators, was at his best – like the rest of his team – during league play this season. He was one of six UF players to average double-figure scoring at 10.7 points per game while draining just shy of 44% from distance. He also led the team in free-throw shooting at 91.1%.
 
“I love my role on his team,” Klavzar said. 
 
Who wouldn’t love having a green light to let it fly any time?  
 
“Any shot is good for him,” said forward Alex Condon, a third-team All-SEC selection. “He’s an elite shooter, and when he plays with that level of confidence, we’re an unstoppable team.”

Two months ago, UF’s 3-point shooting ranked near the bottom of all of college basketball; for half the season, the Gators were the worst among the nation’s 79 power conference teams from distance, fluctuating between 25-28%. It wasn’t because of Klavzar, though. His long-ball marksmanship has been on all season and has him pace to be the first Gator since Noah Locke (40.4% in 2021) to convert at least 50 3-pointers at better than 40%. 
 
His teammates, at 37.6% during the current 11-game winning streak, caught up. 
 
Now, the Gators’ perimeter shooting makes one of the best front courts in college basketball all the more lethal; and UF one of the nation’s most dangerous teams heading into the postseason.
 
“We know how good we are, but we also know what this time of the season is about,” said Klavzar, who joined Chris Richard (2007), Dorian Finney-Smith (2014) and Canyon Barry (2017) as the program’s all-time Sixth Man honorees. “We can beat anybody, but we have to be locked in and ready to play from the start.”
 
 
REDISCOVERING HIS CONFIDENCE
 
Locked in and ready.

That was Klavzar’s mentality when he exited the ’24-25 national-championship campaign having averaged a mere 10 minutes and 3.2 points over 26 games. There were circumstances limiting his production, even beyond the presence of Clayton, Martin, Will Richard and Denzel Aberdeen, the nation’s best backcourt. 

 

He was a late signee in the summer of ’24 after a superb performance in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket championships, when he led Slovenia to the tournament title game. Urban had an older brother, Nejc, who also excelled at basketball, so it was probably a given he’d gravitated to the court (and away from the soccer field) at an early age. He blossomed into the one of the finest youth players in the Balkan states and by age 14 was playing for Real Madrid in Spain and competing in older age groups.

 

Along the way, Klavzar became addicted to watching basketball in the United States, though the time difference made games difficult to view live. Instead, he zeroed in on YouTube highlight shows about the NBA (Favorite player: Kyrie Irving) and college hoops (Unforgettable moments: Kemba Walker’s step-back for UConn in 2011; Kyle Guy’s shooting tear for Virginia in 2019). 

Long before Klavzar lit up the U20s he’d been on UF’s international radar. After guiding Slovenia to the tournament championship game (the team lost to France at the buzzer), dozens of late offers came pouring in, but Klavzar was way down the road with Golden and the Gators. 

 

“I loved the coaches, the colors, the weather and wanted the academic challenge,” Klavzar said.

He didn’t get to Gainesville until late in the summer, then spent the next few months learning the UF system all the while working through NCAA red tape trying to get eligible. His foreign academic transcripts and brief stint playing professionally in Spain complicated the process.

 

Three games into the ’24-25 season, Klavzar was cleared, though docked a year of eligibility, and began his collegiate career as a sophomore. By that time, he was playing catch-up and doing so behind some great players. The minutes were inconsistent and his normally deadly shot did not show up right away. It did when the Gators needed it. 

 

The Auburn win, the first in program history over a No. 1 team in the road, was the highlight. Klavzar averaged just over 15 minutes during that pivotal five-game stretch (all wins). 

 

He then totaled 47 minutes in UF’s nine postseason games (none in the final three). 

 

 

TARGET PRACTICE

 

His second summer in Gainesville began right away and without uncertainty. Klavzar put in the work to make sure he would be more than in the mix for a spot in the rotation. He leaned into his favorite quote and lived by it. 

 

The future you is depending on the current you.

 

Now, the guy they call “Urby” is a weapon the entire league (and soon, the NCAA Tournament field) must account for. 

 

“It’s his second year with us, second in the system, and he’s just more comfortable with a bigger role,” said UF assistant Taurean Green, who oversees the program’s player development. “He was playing behind Walt and Alijah and Will and Zel last year, so he was getting only spare minutes here and there. Now, he’s getting consistent minutes with a bigger role and bigger opportunity to showcase his talent. And he’s playing free, with that next-shot mentality when he misses.” 

 

Which isn’t often. 

 

Klavzar has hit at least one 3-point in all but three of the team’s 31 games this season. He has 20 games of multiple makes from distance and twice dropped five in a game.

 

“I think he’s one of the biggest X-factors in the country,” first-team All-SEC forward Thomas Haugh said. 

He has his shooting routine. Klavzar, like all the best shooters, starts with simple, close-to-the-basket form shooting before backing away. Then, it’s seven makes from five different 2-point spots, followed by 10 from seven different 3-point spots. Then repeat. Usually around 300 made 3-pointers a day. 
 
“Urby has put in the work,” Green said. 
 
So much, in fact, that when the ball hits his hands, Klavzar subconsciously turns it to where the seams are horizontal. That’s when he’s in shooting position. From there, it’s feet set, a slight fade-away, high release point and picture-perfect rotation (with seams straight, of course) to the cylinder.
 
“Every one looks like it’s going in,” Haugh said. 
 
The truly great shooters are special and rare. Green, a pretty good 3-point man in his day (38.9% for his career), sees similarities with Klavzar and that of his former teammate, Lee Humphrey, of the famous 2006-07 back-to-back NCAA championship teams. Humphrey, the UF record-holder in career 3-point percentage (44.4), oftentimes had to be coaxed by Green, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, etc., to put the ball up. 
 
“Hump was always, like, ‘I don’t want to shoot it too much,’ he’d say,” Green recalled. “We’d tell him, ‘You can’t shoot it too much. Shoot the (expletive) ball!’ “
 
That’s what they’re telling Klavzar these days. And why not? 
 
He’s 27-for-55 during the 11-game winning streak: 49.1%.
 
“I love this team. I love how we play and how we’re structured,” Klavzar said. “One of the reasons I came here was because Todd talked about playing fast, wanting to score and not getting mad if you take a good shot and miss. In Europe, it’s not always like that. So, yeah, I love this.”
 
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.