NEW YORK — With 4:29 left in the game, Madison Square Garden erupted with “U-C-O-N-N, UConn, UConn, UConn” chants after the Huskies scored five points in under a minute. Connecticut took a 66-58 lead, mitigating Florida’s 17-7 run out of the break.
However, Florida stayed in the contest, cutting the deficit to three after an Alex Condon putback scored following Solo Ball splitting his free throws with 21.6 seconds left. Then, on the inbounds pass, Florida’s full-court press forced Jayden Ross to turnover the ball, bringing the few but loud Gators fans to their feet, roaring with excitement.
A three-pointer and the Gators could have tied the contest. Instead, the opportunity was squandered.
Florida was unable to get the ball in play before the officials called a five-second violation. In response, Dan Hurley and the UConn bench rose to their feet, thrilled at the fact that they dodged a bullet.
“I thought they called it early,” head coach Todd Golden said. “I challenge everybody to time it and see what they come up with. We timed it in the locker room, and we got 4.6 and 4.7.”
In the ensuing play, the Huskies pushed the ball forward to Ball, who was sent to the line for two. Despite missing his second shot, the four-point deficit with seven seconds left was too tough of a hurdle for Florida to get over.
At the sound of the buzzer, No. 18 Florida (5-4) fell short 77-73 to No. 5 UConn (9-1) in New York City for the Jimmy V Classic. For the second game in a row against a top-five opponent, the Gators fell short of an upset due to late mistakes and offensive inconsistencies that have plagued them for most of the season.
“We fell short again against an elite opponent,” Golden said. “Similar to when we played Arizona, we played Duke, we did a lot of good things, but not quite good enough to get over the hump and get one of these done.”
In Florida’s previous matchup against Duke at Cameron Indoor, the Gators trailed by 12 at the break but crawled back to take a lead with roughly 30 seconds left.
However, after Duke guard Isaiah Evans drilled a 3-pointer to give the Blue Devils a 67-66 advantage, the Gators failed to answer, with Boogie Fland losing the ball after being double-teamed in the following possession. Then, in an inbounds play with 1.4 seconds left, Thomas Haugh's pass was deflected, and Duke stole the ball.
Offensively, the Gators have struggled as a whole for most of this season.
Florida entered the game shooting 43% from the field and 27% from beyond the arc. At the heart of these problems were guards Xaivian Lee and Fland, who are both shooting below 25% from 3.
In the Gators’ season opener, Fland missed a corner 3 that would have tied the game with around ?? seconds left, and Lee went 2 for 10 from 3 after hitting from deep to start the contest. Against Duke, the tandem went 3 for 13 from beyond the arc.
Against UConn, the offense was off to a slow start in MSG, especially from beyond the arc.
Florida's poor 27% shooting from 3 started in its first possession, when Haugh took a deep 3-pointer that missed the hoop entirely, leading to an echo of “airball” chants from the UConn fans. The Gators’ night also came to an end with an airball on a Lee 3-pointer with 1:40 left in the game.
Lee, however, showed promise in Tuesday's game, finishing with a team-high 19 points.
The Princeton transfer made his first shot after his crossover gave him space for a free-throw line jumper. He went on to carry Florida’s offense, which was without Boogie Fland, who reached three fouls with 7:52 left in the first half. Lee played 19 of the first 20 minutes in Tuesday's game, finishing the first half with 13 points, including 6 of 7 free throws made.
Aside from scoring, the Toronto native helped create scoring opportunities for others. Lee connected twice with Haugh on a lob, the second of which resulted in a three-point play to cut Florida’s deficit to one with under 15 minutes to go in the second half, bringing the Florida fans to their feet.
“He had his best game in a Gator uniform,” Golden said. “He needs to shoot the ball a little bit better … but I thought he played a great floor game.”
However, just like Florida’s offense as a whole, Lee’s productivity was inconsistent, with a much quieter second half. He had 6 points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field, including three missed 3-pointers.
Fland, who was coming off a 16-point outing against the Blue Devils, where he scored six straight points to cut Florida’s deficit to one with 2:39 left in the game followed by a 3-pointer to give the Gators a 67-66 advantage with 25 seconds to go.
Fighting foul trouble on Tuesday against the Huskies, the Bronx native had a sour homecoming, finishing the game with 8 points before reaching the foul limit in the final seconds of the second half.
Junior forward Alex Condon also lacked consistent offensive productivity, finishing the contest with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. During the second half, Condon struggled. He had the lowest plus-minus of any Gator at minus-14 and was held to 3 points on 0-of-4 shooting.
“He just slowed himself down a bit in the second half and was much more effective,” Golden said. “He's a guy we're relying upon, we need to play very well for us to be the best we can be.”
In Florida’s two other games against top-five opponents, Condon failed to be a consistent offensive outlet. Against Arizona, he fouled out of the contest after recording 11 points in 29 minutes. He also had a team-high six turnovers.
Facing the Blue Devils, he had a slow start, hitting just one shot from the field through the first half. He did finish with 12 points, but in 37 minutes and on 4-of-11 shooting.
The Gators will look to clean up their late-game mistakes and offensive struggles on Saturday in Sunrise, Florida, against George Washington (8-2).
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.
