After months of anticipation and hype, Florida basketball is here. Well, kind of.
On Sunday, Florida takes on Baylor in an exhibition game in Jacksonville at 2 p.m. The contest will be UF’s first public game following the team’s secret scrimmage against North Florida on Oct. 7.
With a chance to see the Gators in action, here are three things to watch as Florida prepares for its season opener Nov. 2 against Miami in Tampa.
Who gets the eight-man
With Florida head coach Todd Golden finalizing his starting lineup and Urban Klavžar and Isaiah Brown coming off the bench for the second straight season, one spot remains in Golden’s eight-man rotation.
Sophomore CJ Ingram is the most likely option to get that spot, given his time off the bench last season. As a freshman, Ingram averaged 2.2 points across his 21 appearances. He was battling with Brown early in the season for the eighth spot but lost it after Brown found his rhythm during Southeastern Conference play.
However, Ingram has been dealing with a back issue that is limited for much of the fall, according to Golden. For now, the eighth spot is open.
“We have some time, but at the same time he's missed a good amount,” Golden said Oct. 9. “So he's a little behind that way, and we got to get him back healthy first and foremost, and then we'll see how it goes."
One option for that role is Isaiah’s older brother, sophomore guard AJ Brown.
AJ missed all of last season with a shoulder injury he suffered during the 2024-25 season at Ohio. During that season, he averaged 13.2 points and 3.2 boards per game while shooting 38.8% from beyond the arc.
Last season, the Gators shot poorly from 3-point range, so Brown could provide much-needed shooting and a spark off the bench. Golden said Brown was one of Florida’s best players in its secret scrimmage against North Florida.
“The gravity that AJ provides on the court, that showed up Wednesday night,” Golden said. “Some of our best players really benefit from floor-spacers.”
Another option is sophomore guard Alex Lloyd.
Lloyd was ESPN’s 37th-ranked prospect in his class, but saw limited time off the bench last season. He made just 17 appearances, logging 21 points and 13 rebounds.
If Florida wants to bring size, junior center Viktor Mikic would be the best option.
Mikic has had a very limited role in his first two seasons at Florida, but that’s largely because there isn't much room to move up in Florida’s frontcourt.
However, with Micah Handlogten transferred to Ole Miss, Mikic’s opportunity is here, and at 6-foot-11, Mikic could play a similar role as Handlogten. So far, Golden said he’s been impressed with the Serbian’s work, starting in the scrimmage against UNF.
“He has a good chance to carve out a role,” Golden said. “Mik probably has a little advantage being a third-year guy and a pretty good low-post operator.”
There are plenty more options, but these three are the main ones to watch in Sunday’s exhibition game.
Florida’s frontcourt rotations
With Handlogten’s departure, the Gators could run an eight-man rotation without a big man coming off the bench. Consequently, Golden will need to move around his frontcourt trio of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu.
Specifically, when Chinyelu subs out, Condon would move to center, and Haugh would play power forward. The good news for Florida is that Condon and Haugh have experience at these positions.
“I would call it more of our ‘depth lineup’ as opposed to small ball,” Golden said. “I could see us playing that front court quite a bit.”
Before the 2025-26 season, Haugh was a power forward. The now-senior averaged 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in his sophomore year as a power forward off the bench. Condon has played his fair share of center at UF. When he was named AP Preseason All-American ahead of last season, it was at center.
"That lineup is kind of what we used in the championship game that year where I was at the four and Condon was playing some small ball five,” Haugh said Oct. 1. “It's a quick lineup.”
However, if a frontcourt piece emerged off the bench during these exhibition games, such as Mikic, then Florida would run a similar rotation to last season.
Boogie Fland and Denzel Aberdeen’s connection
In a team where there’s plenty of familiarity, one area that lacks such is the starting backcourt.
Boogie Fland and Denzel Aberdeen will man Florida’s backcourt, but the two have never played together, despite both having played for Florida.
Aberdeen spent his first three seasons at UF, playing a crucial role off the bench en route to the Gators’ 2025 national championship. He then transferred to Kentucky for his senior season, averaging 13.5 points per game. The Orlando native then transferred back to UF for a fifth year, which he was granted eligibility for after months of a back-and-forth tug-of-war with the NCAA that ended with Aberdeen receiving a temporary injunction on Sept. 29.
Fland, who spent his freshman season at Arkansas, transferred to Florida ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
While both have experience at point guard, with Fland being Florida’s 1 for all of last season and Aberdeen doing so at Kentucky, Fland is going to be Florida’s starting point guard. As a result, Aberdeen will play at the 2, allowing him to use his perimeter shooting to spread the floor. He shot 36.3% from beyond the arc last season.
Despite not having played alongside Aberdeen, Fland said he has plenty of experience with the fifth-year guard as the two have faced each other numerous times in SEC play over the last two seasons. Nonetheless, Fland said he and Aberdeen could be a deadly combination.
“I feel like it goes on the court the way it goes off the court, you know what I mean?” Fland said. “The brotherhood you have off the court, it trickles into the court.”
Sunday will provide the first live look at Florida’s starting backcourt, an often overlooked aspect of this team’s roster.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Fall 2026 men's basketball reporter and a third-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.
