With a chance to capture their eighth SEC regular-season championship title in program history and the program’s first since 2014, the Florida Gators were firing on all cylinders Feb. 28.
Seven players scored in double-figures en route to a 111-77 demolition of No. 20 Arkansas. It marked the ninth consecutive victory for the No. 7 Gators, who have won all but one of their last 15 games.
The win marked a dramatic turnaround for Florida. After starting the season 5-4, the defending national champions have stormed to a 23-6 record, including a 14-2 mark in SEC play.
"It took us a little bit to get comfortable and to find our way,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “And the credit that this team deserves more than anything is staying together, believing in each other when guys weren't playing at their best, not pointing fingers. … I think we're playing as good at basketball as anybody in America right now."
And the Gators have a right to say that.
Since Jan. 1, Florida is 14-2 and ranks No. 2 in Bart Torvik’s T-Rank, which measures a team’s quality based on offensive and defensive efficiency. During that timespan, the Gators also have the nation’s No. 7 offense and No. 2 defense.
The only team ranked ahead of UF is Duke, which defeated Florida 67-66 on Dec. 2, 2025, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. Since then, the Blue Devils have only lost two games by a combined total of four points, establishing themselves as the No. 1 team in the country.
Two of the three other 1-seed spots in the NCAA tournament are seemingly locked up by No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Michigan. That fourth 1-seed is currently occupied by No. 4 Connecticut, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Meanwhile, Florida is Lunardi’s No. 5 team, making the Gators his top 2-seed.
Despite the Huskies’ 77-73 victory over the Gators Dec. 9, 2025, in Madison Square Garden, Golden remained confident Florida had a path to the final No. 1 seed, especially after UF’s flawless 8-0 February.
“I told the guys, we're playing to become the best seed possible,” Golden said. “If we take care of business and play really well, there's not a seed out there that is unattainable for us. Obviously, there's other teams competing for it, but we have a lot that's under our control down the stretch here."
The advanced analytics agree with Golden’s sentiment. Across the season, Florida ranks No. 4 in T-Rank. The Huskies, meanwhile, rank No. 8. The Gators also rank No. 4 in Ken Pomeroy’s Net Ranking, while UConn comes in at No. 10.
The NCAA Evaluation Tool ranking, which is the primary metric used to measure teams in terms of seeding, has Florida No. 4 and UConn No. 9.
Golden isn’t the only Gator focused on potential seeding implications. Junior forward Alex Condon, who has averaged 21 points and six rebounds over the past four games, looked ahead post-game.
“On to the next thing, SEC tournament and closing out the season the right way,” Condon said. “We really want that 1 seed.”
Including Condon, six players are averaging 20-plus minutes and 10-plus points per game this season, with junior forward Thomas Haugh pacing the team in both categories (33.2 minutes per game, 17.1 points per game).
Haugh posted his 12th 20-plus point outing of the season Feb. 28 en route to finishing as Florida’s leading scorer with 22 points.
His consistent play all season has been key for the Gators to rebound from their rough start.
“We knew who we were as a team from the beginning,” Haugh said. “We just stuck to it.”
With two more regular-season games until the SEC Tournament begins, Florida just needs one more win or an Alabama loss to clinch sole possession of the SEC regular-season crown.
The Gators have a chance to do so in their final home bout of the season against Mississippi State, which tips off in the O’Connell Center March 2 at 8 p.m.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is a junior sports journalism student in his seventh semester at The Alligator. He serves as The Alligator's assistant sports editor and football beat coordinator. He previously served as The Alligator's sports editor and as a reporter for football, women's tennis, volleyball, lacrosse and sports enterprise. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. Max wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Maxim Mamin).
