TAMPA, Fla. – Whatever it was the Florida Gators put on tape during their two uninspired and equally unimpressive exhibition games last month, it looked nothing like what the nation's No. 1-ranked team rolled out in Monday night's 2026-27 season opener at Benchmark International Arena.
UF's 77-67 defeat of 14th-ranked Miami was no masterpiece, but the toughness and fight the Gators displayed – from the starting unit, all the way down the bench – laid a solid baseline from which to build for a team that tipped off the season with a bulls-eye on its jersey the size of Tampa Bay.
Senior forward Thomas Haugh, the preseason first-team All American, led the way with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, plus 10 rebounds and four assists, as the Gators (1-0) built a 10-point lead at the half, weathered a Hurricanes (0-1) run early in the second and closed the game with a defense that allowed just three field goals over the game's final 12 minutes.
"Really proud of my team. We competed the right way," said Gators coach Todd Golden, whose squad couldn't shoot straight in an exhibition loss to Baylor two weeks ago and allowed undermanned Stetson to stick around in their scrimmage last week. "We challenged our team over the past couple of weeks that we can't just compete and play hard. We have to play smart, as well. I thought we did a better job putting those two things together."
UF shot 43.4% for the game due to a poor second half from the floor (8 of 25 for 32%), but it was the Gators' inability to capitalize at the free-throw line – just 20 of 35 (a measly 57.1%) – that prevented what could have been a far more comfortable cushion in the final scoring columns.
"It was ugly, but it was a win and a really good win," junior point guard Boogie Fland said. "They're a good team. So are we. We showed who we are and we showed we can get better."
Haugh hit six of his 13 shots, four of eight from deep. Fland had 12 points, four assists and four steals, with senior forward Alex Condon pitching in 11 points and seven rebounds. Senior center Rueben Chinyelu crashed the glass for 14 caroms and the UF bench, which gave the team just nine points combined in the two exhibitions, tallied 22 points in a win that figures to carry some Quad-1 weight down the line, what with Miami picked to contend in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Gators weren't perfect (far from it at the free-throw line, plus 10 second-half turnovers), but they were prepared and took a professional-like approach -- "This was the biggest game in college basketball tonight, by a lot," Golden said -- against an outstanding opponent they knew would come out swinging.
"I think the scout [the coaches] put together for this game was the best I've had since being here at Florida," Haugh said of a game his team lead for more than 33 minutes. "We were out there playing and it just felt like everything was moving how we knew it was going to move. Nothing surprised us. We were able to stay on the tendencies of their guys and stuff. That's just a credit to Coach Golden's staff and the all-star scout team at practice."
Gators point guard Boogie Fland (1) went just 2-for-9 from the floor, but both his makes were from the 3-point line (on three attempts).
The game was a slugfest between a pair of teams loaded with athleticism and physicality. That combination produced a clunky affair, with 46 fouls (three that were upgraded to Flagrant 1s), 65 free throws, two technical fouls and a half-dozen official reviews. UM's 6-foot-11, 263-pound center Cyril Somto (13 points, 7 rebounds) was usually in the middle of it all (sprawled on the floor and holding his face, that is).
"Flopping is not how the game of basketball is supposed to be played," Chinyelu said.
There was plenty of legitimate contact, however, with the Gators looking at home in the elbow, forearm and body-banging maelstrom.
"This was an SEC game from a physicality standpoint," Golden said.
Both teams came out hot, with UM hitting half its first dozen shots for a 17-15 lead eight minutes in. That's when the Gators struck for three consecutive 3-point plays; two the normal way, courtesy of backup wing Isaiah Brown (7 points, 3 rebounds in 13 minutes) and Fland; the other an old-fashioned "and-one" in transition from fifth-year guard Denzel Aberdeen. The run put UF ahead 24-17. For good, as it turned out.
Florida led 46-36 at halftime, thanks to 54% from the floor and seven of 13 from the 3-point line, the combination of which offset 13-for-25 at the free-throw line. The hot hands from the floor did not carry over into the second half, but the free-throw clanging did.
The misses allowed the Hurricanes to chip away and cut the lead to two before the nation's No. 1 team answered with seven straight points, including 3s from junior backup wing Domen Petrovic (6 points, 3 rebounds in his 11-minute collegiate debut) and Fland, that opened some distance, up nine with just over 12 to play.
Miami got as close as six, 61-55, with 11 minutes remaining, but a Condon stickback and transition 3-ball from reserve guard Urban Klavzar, the 2026 Southeastern Conference Sixth Man of the Year, restored the double-digit advantage.
The Hurricanes missed 17 of their next 18 shots over the ensuing nine minutes. The Gators weren't much better, missing seven of their last eight field-goal tries and five free throws -- for the game, Haugh missed five free throws, Fland and Chinyelu four each from the line -- but the double-digit lead prevailed.
"Championship teams are built like that," UM coach Jai Lucas said of the rough and tumble, high-energy atmosphere affair. "You got to be able to play in some wars like that. That's what an Elite Eight, Sweet 16 feels like."
UM was led by a game-high 24 points from point guard Acaden Lewis, but their two marquee returning forwards and preseason All-ACC honorees, fifth-year Malik Reneau (18.9 points per game last season) and sophomore Shelton Henderson (13.8), combined for just 12 points on 2-for-16 shooting against the active, lengthy and willing UF defense.
UF coach Todd Golden, for the overwhelming most part, liked what he saw in the first game for the Gators.
The win, in front of a wildly pro-UF crowd of more than 15,000, came on the same floor where Florida's 2025-26 season ended in a knee-capping 73-72 last-second loss to Iowa in second-round play of the NCAA Tournament. That defeat ended Florida's national-championship reign and, certainly at the time, was thought to be the final game for Haugh in a Gator uniform.
And yet there he was, alongside Golden, at the post-game podium tipping off another season (and victory) together.
"It feels great, man," Golden said. "It's great because this will be the last night that I receive those questions of exorcising the [Tampa] demons. But I'm really happy to be up here sitting with this guy again. Really happy to be coaching this group. And excited for what we have in front of us this year."
