With 7:27 left in the game, the Moody Center, which was covered in orange and white, roared with cheers after Jordan Pope’s layup gave the Longhorns a 64-61 advantage, capping off a 9-0 run
The Gators were in unfamiliar territory, as they came into the game winners of six straight on the road.
However, Florida answered right back with an 11-1 run, giving it a 72-65 lead. About two and a half minutes later, Isaiah Brown’s dunk with 2:33 left in the game put the Gators up by 15, adding a 7-0 run to the Gators’ second-half eruption.
Moreover, the Gators’ defense prevented the Longhorns from converting a field goal since Pope’s layup.
As a result of the late-game run, No. 7 Florida (22-6, 13-2 SEC) cruised to an 84-71 win over Texas (17-11, 8-7 SEC), marking Florida’s eighth-straight win and seventh straight on the road.
“We obviously challenged our guys pretty strongly at halftime about guarding your yard and doing a better job on the defensive end,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “And obviously that flipped for us. We guarded really, really well in the second half.”
Alex Condon led the Gators with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, marking his third-straight 20-point outing.
At the break, the junior had a team-high 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting. He then started the second half with a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 39, marking his second straight game with a made 3-pointer. He finished the second half with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
The Aussie also asserted himself defensively, with a team-leading four blocks. He had two rejections at the break, the second of which was on Texas’ 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis and led to a Boogie Fland 3-pointer, forcing Texas to call a timeout with the game tied at 36 with 1:21 before the break.
“I’ve found a rhythm these last few games,” Condon said. “My teammates are getting me the ball and trusting me to make the right plays. I didn’t feel like I forced anything tonight and just let the game come to me.”
Condon’s rim protection played an important role in Florida’s 11-1 advantage in blocks.
Behind Condon was Fland, who finished the game with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
In the first half, the sophomore guard logged nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, including five-straight points in under two minutes. He did more damage in the second half with a team-high 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a 3-pointer that gave the Gators a 75-65 lead with 4:18 left in the game.
Fland’s backcourt partner, Xaivian Lee, grabbed his third double-digit scoring performance over his last four outings with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Despite starting the game with three turnovers, the Princeton transfer settled in and recorded a team-high six assists without another giveaway for the remainder of the contest.
The Toronto native did a majority of his damage in the second half with 10 points. His second 3-pointer gave Florida a 78-67 lead with 3:20 remaining in the game.
“When our guards are banging shots like that, we're going to be really tough to beat, and it allowed us to run away from them down the stretch,” Golden said.
Off the bench, Brown provided UF with 9 points and a team-high eight rebounds. He had five points and a team-leading five rebounds at halftime. He grabbed Florida’s first 3-pointer of the game with 7:11 before the break, cutting the Gators’ deficit to one.
However, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu struggled to establish themselves against Texas.
After recording his 1,000th career point on a dunk just under two minutes into the game, Haugh was limited.
He was in foul trouble for much of the contest and was benched for some time after rolling his ankle on a block with 14:25 left in the second half. Haugh fouled out of the game with about a minute left, recording 5 points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field, tying his lowest-scoring effort of the season.
Chinyelu was also in foul trouble for much of the contest. He picked up an offensive rebound to set a single-season program record for most offensive boards, surpassing Dwayne Davis’ 114 during the 1988-89 campaign. The junior center finished the game with 5 points and four rebounds.
Defensively, Dailyn Swain and Tramon Mark were a problem for the Gators.
Swain, who came into the game leading the Longhorns with 17.9 points per game, finished the contest with 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting. He did a majority of his damage in the second half with a team-high 15 points, including 7-of-7 shooting from the free throw line.
At the end of the first half, Mark recorded a team-leading 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. His 3-pointer with 8:52 before the half gave the Longhorns a 25-19 advantage. He finished the game with 15 points after going 1 for 2 from the field in the second half.
“We let him get three 3’s made,” Golden said. “He was making tough step back 3’s, but we weren't contesting quite well enough and he got comfortable.”
Florida will look to extend its win streak to nine games when it faces No. 20 Arkansas (20-7, 10-4 SEC) Saturday at 8:30 p.m., with ESPN’s College Gameday coming to Gainesville.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the spring 2026 men's basketball beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major with a media, management and production minor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams
