The No. 18 Gators are back in the Sunshine State for the first time this month, but not quite at home yet.
Florida (5-4) takes on George Washington (8-3) on Saturday in the Orange Bowl Classic at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. The two last faced in 2016, with the Gators falling short 82-77 in Washington, D.C.
Here are four keys for Florida as it looks to go 2-4 in the Orange Bowl Classic.
Keep guys fresh
The revolutionaries have found much success from their bench this season.
Chris Caputo’s team ranks No. 26 in the nation in bench points per game and has nine players on its active roster who are averaging 16 minutes or more a game. GW’s bench is led by redshirt-junior forward Garrett Johnson, who is averaging 14.3 points per game through 11 games.
On the flip side, the Gators rotate seven or eight players per game, relying on Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon, who both average 30 or more minutes per game.
Last time out against UConn, Golden relied on Xaivian Lee to play 19 minutes in the first half because Boogie Fland was in foul trouble early.
Against a George Washington that will have fresher legs, Florida will need to do its part to manage the minutes of guys in the rotation and rely on some guys on the bench.
CJ Ingram made his first appearance off the bench Tuesday for the first time since the Merrimack game Nov. 21. Look for him, Alex Lloyd and Isaiah Brown, who have yet to see the court since the Rady Children’s Invitational in late November, to get involved and support a bench highlighted by Urban Klavzar and Micah Handlogten.
Beat the trap
Last time out against Delaware, George Washington trapped on almost every screen set in the half-court offense, in addition to occasional full-court traps. As a result, the Revolutionaries finished the game with an 11-4 advantage in steals.
GW comes into the matchup with three players averaging a steal or more a game, with junior guard Bubu Benjamin leading the way with 1.7 steals a night. Benjamin had four takeaways against American Nov. 12 in the Cayman Island Classic.
Florida has struggled to take care of the ball recently, with late-game turnovers against Duke and UConn costing the national champions a chance to pull off an upset. In addition, the upset loss to TCU was largely due to the reigning national champions losing the turnover battle 19-9.
The Gators' ball handlers will have to beat the trap early and take care of the ball on screens to avoid digging themselves into a hole too deep Saturday.
Additionally, if Florida takes care of the ball against the press, it will have players open for 3-pointers. Doing so gives Lee, who is shooting 20% from beyond the arc, the opportunity to build off his 19-point outing against UConn and break his shooting slump from deep.
Defend the perimeter
George Washington is an elite 3-point shooting team, ranking No. 5 nationally at 41% from the arc. At the forefront of the Revolutionaries’ success is Trey Dinkins and Trey Autry.
Dinkins is a graduate transfer from Canisius, where his 15 points per game earned him 2024 All-MAC Third Team Honors. This season, he’s averaging 10.1 points per game, with a season high against American, where he logged 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. He enters Saturday’s contest shooting 42.4% from 3.
In GW’s last game against Delaware, Autry had a season-high 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three. The junior guard comes into Saturday shooting 41% from beyond the arc and averaging 9 points per game.
Against UConn, Florida did not give up many shots from beyond the arc, but rather, costly ones. The Huskies finished 8 of 18 (44%) from deep, including an Alex Karaban 3-pointer that gave the Huskies a 66-58 lead with 4:29 left that the Gators were unable to come back from.
“I don't think we did a good enough job standing Karaban in space in the second half,” Golden said. “The battle of the 3-point line was a big difference tonight.”
With Florida’s frontcourt ranking among the best nationally, George Washington will have to rely on its perimeter shooting on Saturday, and if the Gators can shut it down, the Revolutationaires will struggle.
Stay out of foul trouble
In all three of Florida’s losses, at least one player has fouled out, with two players fouling out against Arizona and TCU.
Against UConn, Fland fouled out of the game, picking up three of his five in the first half. As a result, he was unable to build off his success against Duke and was held to 8 points on 2-of-5 shooting in Madison Square Garden.
“Boog struggled a little early tonight,” Golden said after the UConn game. “Tough whistle early on, picking up fouls. We just could never get in a flow that way.”
GW poses another threat to UF’s ability to stay out of foul trouble as it ranks No. 9 in free throws made per game (21.1), No. 16 in free throws attempted (27.9) and No. 18 in fouls drawn per game (18).
The Revolutionaries' top sorcerer, Rafael Castro, who leads GW in scoring with 15.5 points per game, does most of his damage by getting to the charity stripe, leading the team in free throws attempted (82) and free throws made (58).
In his best performance of the season against Murray State on Nov. 25, the redshirt-senior center scored 26 points with 12-of-16 shooting from the line. Conversely, against Delaware on Wednesday, Castro posted his second-lowest scoring performance of the season with just 9 points.
For Florida to compete against George Washington’s nine-player rotation and shut down Castro, it will have to stay out of foul trouble, preventing overreliance on certain players while also limiting the Revolutionaries from continuing their dominance and the charity stripe.
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.
