The Gators are coming off one of their best offensive outputs of the season against Saint Francis and look to continue their success in the middle of a three-game homestand.
No. 23 Florida (7-4) takes on Colgate (6-5) for the first time in program history Sunday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, aiming to hand the Raiders their third loss against ranked opponents in as many meetings.
Here are four keys for the Gators to grab their 12th straight win at home.
Slow down Jalen Cox
The majority of Colgate's success is driven by junior guard Jalen Cox. He leads the team in points (16), assists (5.5) and steals (2.3) per game.
Cox logged 12 pts, eight rebounds and seven assists to open the season at No. 22 Michigan State, Colgate’s first ranked opponent. Then, against No. 14 Illinois on Nov. 14, he put up 12 points with six boards and four assists.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Cox is No. 31 nationally in steals per game and No. 39 in assists per game.
The Raiders will rely on Cox again to put up a fight against the Gators. However, Florida’s success guarding backcourt players poses a challenge.
Part of this is due to the defensive efforts of guards Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee. Fland leads the team with 1.6 steals per outing. Lee has recorded a steal in each of Florida’s last five outings.
“He’s defended hard for us all year,” head coach Todd Golden said. “He’s done a really good job taking away shooters. He’s quick, does a good job recovering and getting through screens and he’s been mentally tough enough to do it so far.”
Alongside Fland, it will be important for Lee to continue his defensive approach against Cox, who has had issues with ball handling. He is averaging 2.2 turnovers a game and had four against Michigan State.
Disrupt passing lanes
Beyond Cox, the Colgate team as a whole has struggled to take care of the basketball. The Raiders rank No. 42 nationally in turnovers per game at 10.3.
Colgate’s two leading scorers, Cox and Andrew Alekseyenko, are both averaging more than two turnovers a game. Against Michigan State, they both had four turnovers.
Alekseyenko, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward, faces a frontcourt that has given other big men plenty of trouble. Miami’s Malik Reneau had, at the time, a season-high four turnovers against Florida.
Overall, Florida has also struggled to take care of the ball, with costly mistakes against TCU, Duke and UConn, all games the Gators lost. With the Raiders’ turnover-prone tendencies, the Gators can flip turnovers from an issue to a catalyst for success on Sunday.
Use the height advantage
The Raiders, like North Florida and Saint Francis, lack size compared to Florida’s roster, which feeds into the defending national champions’ strong suit.
The tallest player in Colgate head coach Matt Lange’s rotation is 6-foot-10 Ayomi Odetoyinbo, who is averaging 13.4 minutes per outing. After him, the Raiders have 6-foot-9 Sam Wright in their rotation. Moreover, Colgate’s best rebounder, Alekseyenko, is averaging 5.5 rebounds a game.
On the flip side, the Gators have four players 6-foot-9 or taller in their rotation: Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. When it comes to rebounds per game, all four of these frontcourt pieces surpass Alekseyenko, with Chinyelu leading the pack with 10.7 boards a night.
Last time out, the Gators outrebounded the Red Flash 44-19. The Gators’ ability to dominate the glass has become a common theme early this season, leading to their No. 1 rank nationally in rebounding margin.
Against a much smaller Colgate team, look for Florida to use its size advantage to create extra possessions and prevent an offense that’s No. 31 nationally in field goal percentage (50%) from having success in high-percentage shots close to the rim.
Have balanced scoring
Florida is coming off its second-best scoring output of the season with 102 points against Saint Francis on Wednesday.
A big reason for this offensive surge was Florida's balanced attack. All five starters scored within the first four minutes of the game, and at the final buzzer, all 12 players who dressed scored, including six in double figures.
As a result, Haugh, who is averaging 17.4 points and 34.4 minutes per game, played just 25 minutes, scoring 5 points.
Haugh is a leader for this Florida team, and with conference play coming up, it will be extremely important for the Gators to give the junior forward as much rest as possible before the schedule picks up again.
“Tommy didn’t score a lot tonight, but has been such a big player for us,” Condon said after the Saint Francis game. “It's good that he’s not playing 37, even 40, minutes tonight. It’s good that he can get a little bit of rest.”
For Haugh to get more rest, the Gators will need to maintain their well-rounded attack. Recently, it has been fueled by Xaivian Lee, who is averaging 17 points on 36% shooting from beyond the arc over the last five games.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Fall 2025 enterprise and men's basketball beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
