No. 19 Florida vs. No. 23 Alabama

 
* When: Sunday, 1 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (15-6, 6-2) / Alabama (14-6, 4-3)
* Series/Last meeting: Alabama leads 79-74, but Florida won both meetings last season and has won four straight after losing four straight from 2021-24. The Gators defeated the Crimson Tide 99-94 on March 5, 2025 at Tuscaloosa behind a monster performance (27 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks) from sophomore forward Alex Condon. The two met again 10 days later in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, where UF won 104-82 by shooting 56% in the second half (including 6-for-12 from the 3-point line) and defending the Tide at 34% after the break, on the way to breaking the SEC Tournament single-game scoring record behind a 57-point second half. Senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. led the way with 22 points and converted six of 11 shooting from deep.   
* TV: ABC (Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Dick Vitale)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
  (with Sean Kelley, Brian Hogan and Steve Egan) 
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

 

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Junior	13.2 pts / 8.2 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Junior	12.0 pts / 11.0 reb
Thomas Haugh	F	6-9 / 215	Junior	17.4 pts / 6.5 reb
Xaivian Lee	G	6-4 / 185	Senior	11.0 pts / 4.0 reb
Boogie Fland	G	6-3 / 185	Sophomore	11.2 pts / 2.4 reb / 4.9 ast

Alabama	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Aiden Sherrill	F	6-11 / 255	Sophomore	10.6 pts / 5.8 reb
Charles Bediako	C	7-0 / 225	Senior	13.5 pts / 4.5 reb
Labaron Philon	G	6-4 / 185	Sophomore	22.0 pts / 3.6 reb / 4.9 ast
Latrell Wrightsell	G	6-3 / 195	Senior	11.9 pts / 2.8 reb
Aden Holloway	G	6-1 / 180	Junior	16.9 pts / 2.2 reb

The Setup

No. 19 Florida and No. 23 Alabama meet in a huge SEC showdown that could have significant ramifications down the road relative to the league’s regular-season title, not to mention SEC and NCAA tournament seeding. UF, winner of five of the previous six, is coming off, by far, its best all-around game of the season, a 95-48 road waxing at South Carolina that proved a nice rebound from its clunker of a home loss against Auburn four days earlier that snapped a five-game win streak. Alabama, very much in the news the last week (read on), also had a sensational game in thumping Missouri 90-64 for its third win in four games. … UF coach Todd Golden is 4-2 against the Tide, with those four straight wins, but has played them just once at the O’Dome, a 105-87 win on Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel’s “Senior Day” in 2024.  

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Alabama
85.6	Scoring	92.0
.467	Field-goal percentage	.450
.290	3-point percentage	.350
71.1	Scoring defense	82.5
.411	Field-goal percentage defense	.421
.325	3-point percentage defense	.316
8th	KenPom.com overall ranking	18th
17th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	3rd
8th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	59th
61st	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	7th
12th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	20th
4th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	1st

The Breakdown 

About the Gators: Yes, it was against one of the league’s cellar-dwellers, but the across-the-board, 40 minutes of elitism the Gators put on display in their blowout win at South Carolina was impressive. They shot 57% in the first half and 69% in the second, tallied 28 assists and posted deltas of plus-21 in rebounds, plus-34 in paint points, plus-13 in second-chance points and plus-28 in fast-break points, all while defending the Gamecocks at 24% overall and 3-for-20 from the 3-point line (15%). … UF is back in the KenPom.com top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and has moved to No. 12 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rating, with four straight Q1 opportunities coming, starting Sunday. … The Gators have inched their way up to 29% from the 3-point line (still 344th overall and last among power conference teams), but better than earlier in the season, thanks to 30.5% in league play. … Thomas Haugh had a team-high 18 points at South Carolina and went 3-for-5 from the arc to take his percentage to 37.0% in league play. … Speaking of SEC play, center Rueben Chinyelu is at 14.1 points per game, 67.2% from the floor, 71.9% at the free throw line and with 37% of his rebounds on the offensive end. … Forward Alex Condon had a career-high eight assists last game, which coupled with his 10 points and nine rebounds put him awfully close to becoming just the fourth player in program history with a triple-double. He missed the only 3 taken and is now 2-for-19 in league play (10.5%). … Guard Xaivian Lee took heavy minutes on the ball against the Gamecocks on his way to nine assists. Starting point guard Boogie Fland (10 points, 4-for-4 from the 2-point area) had six assists, making for 15 between the two. The duo combined to go 0-for-5 from the 3-point line, however. Lee is shooting 27.9% from deep in SEC play and Fland just 13.8% (4-for-29). … Backup guard Urban Klavzar (11.0 ppg) went 3-for-6 from the arc and is at 38.8% from deep in SEC play. … Backup 7-1 center Micah Handlogten has 26 offensive rebounds in league play (18 on the defensive end) and is averaging 5.5 overall boards a game in just 12.5 minutes. … Isaiah Brown (5.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg) is at nearly 47% from the floor, 38.5 from deep and 84.6 at the free-throw lin in SEC play. 

About the Crimson Tide: It’s their seventh season under Nat Oats, the math teacher-turned-basketball analytics savant who has guided the Alabama program to unimaginable heights. Oats is 159-69 at Bama, but his winning percentage over the last six seasons is .726 and includes two SEC regular-season and tournament championships, six NCAA Tournament berths, four Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights and the only Final Four (2024) in program history. His teams are renown for an offense — Bama finished No. 2 overall in ’24, No. 4 in ’25 and currently sits at No. 3 — that basically eschews mid-range shots and seeks nothing but shots at the rim and 3-pointers, all done at 100 mph. It works. On defense, Oats’ teams have been inconsistent year to year, with this one no different, though it got better in the last week with the controversial addition of 7-foot center Charles Bediako, the former G League player who sued the NCAA to return to school and is playing under a temporary restraining. In two games, Bediako is shooting 81.8% from the floor (9 of 11) and gone 9-for-10 at the free throw line, with three steals and two blocks. He is a difference-maker. … Guard Labaron Philon is the SEC scoring leader, ranks 10th in KenPom’s National Player of the Year ratings and is a prime candidate for SEC PoY. He does everything, evidenced by his 31.4% possession rate in shooting 60.6% from 2, 37.0% from 3 and ranks 41st in the country in assist rate. Six times this season he’s scored at least 25 points. … Big-bodied Aiden Sherill is another low-post beast (67% from 2) and the 18th-best shot-blocker in the nation. He also needs to be honored from the arc (33.3%). Taylor Bol Bowen, the transfer from Florida State, is a paint roamer and rim-protector on the wing. … Guard Aden Holloway, who missed two games with a hand injury before returning against Mizzou, is in his second season since transferring from Auburn and is second in the SEC in 3-point shooting at 45.4%. … Oft-injured guard Latrell Wrightsell, in his sixth season, is a career 37% shooter from deep and made seven Tuesday against Missouri. … Backup guard Houston Mallette (7.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg), also with a dozen starts, is a major X-factor, energy guy off the bench. … Freshman forward and 2025 McDonald’s All American Amari Allen (11.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg) has started 10 games, but missed the last two with a thigh bruise, but could be back. If Allen is healthy, Holloway remains so and Bediako remains eligible, this is a very dangerous team; a Final Four-type team.

 

Numbers of Note 

* 7 —Rebounds needed by Chinyelu to become the third transfer player to grab at least 500 in his UF career. Chinyelu, who came to Florida after his freshman season at Washington State, trails only Dorian Finney-Smith (Virginia Tech) with 721 and Colin Casteton (Michigan) with 607 on that list. 

* plus-14.8 — Average margin of victory in Florida’s four consecutive wins over Alabama. 

* 102.5 —UF’s average point total during its four-game streak in the series, a run during which the Gators have scored at least 99 points in each. It’s certainly worth noting, however, the previous two UF teams shot 36.6% from the 3-point line in those games. 

Bottom Line

After last weekend, they’ve got to defend the home court in maybe the biggest game of the season, relative to SEC regular-season title ramifications. 

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.