A rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament Round of 32 match is here, as the Gators and Huskies face each other for the third time in four years.
No. 18 Florida (5-3) travels to New York City to face No. 5 Connecticut (8-1) on Tuesday in Madison Square Garden for the Jimmy V Classic.
“It's an honor to be invited,” head coach Todd Golden said. “For them to select us and [to] be part of it means a lot to our program."
Florida is coming off a heartbreaking loss at No. 4 Duke, where, after trailing by 12 at the break, the Gators took a two-point lead with 30 seconds to go. However, the Blue Devils answered with a 3-pointer to hand the Gators their third loss of the season, 67-66.
Conversely, UConn is riding a four-game win streak heading into Tuesday’s contest after losing its sole game of the season to No. 4 Arizona, 71-67. The Huskies are 3-1 this season against ranked opponents, including wins over No. 7 BYU, No. 13 Illinois and at No. 21 Kansas.
Last season, the two faced during the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gators left Raleigh, North Carolina, with a 77-75 win despite trailing with three minutes left in the game.
“I know they're licking their chops to get an opportunity to compete against us tomorrow night,” Golden said.
Here are four keys for Florida in its second game in MSG in seven years.
Dominate down below
Florida's strength is its frontcourt, highlighted by Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten. These four have accounted for 12 double-doubles this season and are the reason why the Gators are the second-best in the nation in rebound margin.
Against Duke, Florida finished the night with a 44-33 rebounding advantage, which included 20 offensive rebounds on 42 missed shots.
On the opposite side, UConn has struggled as of late, dominating the glass against major conference opponents.
Part of this struggle is due to the absence of senior center Tarris Reed Jr., who leads the Huskies in points. He suffered an ankle injury against BYU that has forced him to miss each game since. His status has been game-to-game during this span.
While replacement Eric Reibe, a 7-foot-1 freshman center from Germany, has held his own with 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, UConn has still struggled to fill the void.
In their lone loss to Arizona, UConn was dominated at the rim. The Wildcats finished plus-18 in paint points and had a 43-23 rebounding advantage.
While Reed’s status remains unclear, if he’s back in limited action or Reibe has to carry the weight, the Gators will have a golden opportunity to use their advantage in size to upset the No. 5 Huskies.
Get Boogie Fland and the offense going
Similar to Duke, UConn comes into Tuesday’s game with strong defense. The Huskies are No. 6 in scoring defense, holding opponents to 60.4 points per game. As well, they are holding their opponents to 37.4% shooting from the field and 26.8% from three-point range.
Through eight games, Florida has struggled on the offensive end.
Against the Blue Devils, the Gators shot 37% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc. Xavian Lee and Urban Klavzar struggled. Together, they combined for 3-for-13 shooting from deep.
However, one bright side on the offensive end was Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland. The sophomore guard finished the contest with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field.
Additionally, Tuesday’s game will be a homecoming for Fland, a Bronx native. Last year, with Arkansas, Fland played at Madison Square Garden against Michigan. He recorded 20 points and seven assists.
"I'm excited,” Fland said. “I'm going to play a friend of my peoples. It don't get more exciting than that. Madison Square Garden. I'm ready."
Slow down UConn’s guards
Since Reed’s ankle injury, the Huskies’ guards have stepped up. Solo Ball and Silas Demary Jr. have led the way.
Ball enters Tuesday's contest second in scoring for UConn with 14.6 points per game, second on the team behind Reed. The junior guard followed a sophomore season that earned him Second-Team All-Big East honors. However, in last year’s game against Florida, he was held to 8 points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Demary, on the other hand, transferred from Georgia, where he scored 21 points last season in an 88-83 victory against the Gators. This season, he’s averaging 10.4 points, 5.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also leads the team with 1.9 steals each game.
Demary has helped facilitate the offense, and the Huskies are No. 13 in the nation with a 1.87 assist-to-turnover ratio.
"They're obviously a really good backcourt,” Golden said. “They run really good stuff.Their half-court offense is hard to guard. A big part of winning tomorrow night's game is doing a good job on both those guys.”
Off the bench, Huskies have freshman McDonald's All-American Braylon Mullins. He is averaging 9.7 points per game in his first three games of the season after suffering an ankle injury. At No. 21 Kansas, Mullins logged 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
Florida slowed down Duke’s guards for the most part last time out. Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster combined for 2-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Evans’ only 3-pointer gave Duke a 67-66 lead with 21 seconds left.
The Gators will have to rely on Fland, who leads the team with 1.9 steals per game and logged three against the Blue Devils, to disrupt passing lanes and give the Huskies guards trouble on Tuesday.
Take care of the ball
In Florida’s losses against TCU and Duke, turnovers proved costly.
On Thanksgiving versus the Horned Frogs, the Gators committed 19 turnovers and trailed 10-4 in the turnover battle at the break. As a result, Florida gave up 22 points off turnovers en route to an 84-80 upset loss.
Against the Blue Devils, while the turnover count was lower at 13, the timing of those turnovers hurt the Gators.
Down 67-66 with 21 seconds left, Florida brought the ball up the court with the opportunity to hand Duke its first loss of the season. Instead, sophomore guard Boogie Fland coughed up the ball to Cam Foster while being double-teamed.
Florida had one final chance with 1.4 seconds left and Duke leading 66-67. On the inbound play, Thomas Haugh's pass was deflected. That led to a Maliq Brown steal and Florida's third loss of the season.
Golden said he aims to shave Florida’s turnover rate to 15-16%. As of right now, the Gators have a 19% turnover rate, which ranks 268th in the country.
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.
