What Happened

GAINESVILLE, Fla.  – Junior forward Alex Condon scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, notching the 10th double-double of his career, and leading the third-ranked Florida Gators to a 104-64 clobbering of North Florida Thursday night at Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center. 

The game marked the 2025-26 home opener for the reigning NCAA champions and began with the unfurling of the national-championship banner from the O’Dome rafters, much to the delight of the packed arena crowd. 

Condon finished eight of 12 from the floor, nine of 10 from the free-throw line and also had four assists and three blocks. The 6-foot-11 Australian tallied 17 points in the first half when the Gators raced to a 52-28 lead at intermission. It became a stat night from there (for the Gators, not for the Ospreys, who had two assists and 16 turnovers for the game), with every UF player eventually checking in, including 7-foot-9 walk-on redshirt freshman center Olivier Rioux in his collegiate debut.

Backup center Micah Handlogten came off the bench for a 17-point, 13-rebound performance, the second double-double in as many games for the 7-1 senior. Junior guard/forward Thomas Haugh, three days after pouring in a career-high 27 points in UF’s season-opening loss to No. 13 Arizona at Las Vegas, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The starting guard tandem of Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee each scored 10 points. 

The Gators began slow and struggled to hit outside shots, but didn’t need to against the size-challenged Ospreys of the Atlantic Sun Conference. UF outscored UNF 36-4 in the paint in the first half alone and out-rebounded the Ospreys 33-13 in the period to run up the big advantage.

The Florida lead in the second half swelled to as high as 43. 

 

Turning Point 

UNF led 10-9 when Condon grabbed an offensive rebound and stuck it back, was fouled and hit the free throw to start a 31-5 run at the 15:09 mark. Thirteen consecutive points initiated the spree and included consecutive slams by Fland (off a steal and run-out), Condon (on a stick-back) and Handlogten on a feed from Fland. When the run was done, the Gators led 40-15 with five minutes to go in the period, with the last bucket a steal and run-out 180-degree dunk by sophomore reserve Isaiah Brown. 
 

Staggering Statistic

The Gators are 13 of 59 in two games from the 3-point line. That’s 22%. It didn’t matter against the Ospreys, but did in the 93-87 loss Monday against Arizona. Bears watching. 
 

Up Next

Florida (1-1) will be off Friday, then get back to work in preparation for Tuesday’s home date against rival Florida State (1-0), under first-year coach and former walk-on FSU player Luke Loucks. The Seminoles opened the Loucks era Tuesday with a 108-76 defeat of Alcorn State and play at home again Friday against against Alabama State. The Gators have won four straight in the series. 

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