For the first time this season, a member of Florida’s backcourt received Southeastern Conference honors.
On Monday, the SEC announced the Gators' senior guard Xaivian Lee was named Player of the Week, alongside Texas’ Dailyn Swain. He becomes the fourth Gator this season to win this honor, setting a program record and tying a conference record.
“He’s stacked some really good games over the last couple of weeks,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said after Saturday’s game against Kentucky.
Lee opened the week with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, fueling Florida to an 86-66 win against Georgia in Athens on Wednesday.
At the break, he logged a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. His second 3-pointer before the half put the Gators up 14 points with 9:19 to go. Lee was kept quiet in the second half, with five points on 2-of-6 shooting, but came through with a clutch 3-pointer to preserve UF’s double-digit advantage and put the game out of reach.
The Toronto, Canada, native followed that performance with a 22-point outing on 7-of-12 shooting.
He opened the scoring for the Gators with a 3-pointer just 12 seconds into the contest. He finished the first half with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. His third 3-pointer of the first half put the Gators up 30-17 with 9:37 before the half.
In the second half, he recorded nine points, including two free throws with 31 seconds left to put the game on ice.
During this span, Lee has also proved himself defensively.
Against Georgia, he tied his season-high of three steals and played a crucial role in holding Georgia’s Jordan Ross scoreless for over a quarter of their Feb. 11 matchup. Overall, the Princeton transfer recorded at least one steal in seven consecutive outings.
“He's been fantastic defensively,” Golden said. “He's really smart, knows how to be in the right place at the right time and can kind of see things coming before they happen, which allows him to not get hit on many screens or get lost in actions.”
Lee will look to maintain his success on both sides of the ball on Tuesday when Florida hosts South Carolina (11-14, 2-10 SEC) at 7 p.m.
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
