From the start of the contest, Florida State was on top of the No. 10 Florida Gators.
During the first half, FSU head coach Luke Loucks had his team full-court press with every opportunity. When the Gators took a seven-point lead with 14:58 left in the first half, the Seminoles answered back.
Florida State took a 40-36 lead at the half that left the sold out Stephen C. O'Connell Center, including hundreds of students who camped out overnight for the game, stunned.
After a 14-2 run in the second half that gave the Gators a 66-57 lead, Florida (2-1) escaped a potential upset against the Seminoles (2-1) en route to a 78-76 victory.
“Great win for us in a rivalry game,” head coach Todd Golden said. “I think the expectation was outside of our building, outside of the arena, that it would be a game for us to control. But we knew coming into this game how difficult it was going to be.”
Florida State had a 6-0 run and trailed by a single point with 1:24 left in the contest, but Robert McCray V missed a crucial free throw that would’ve tied the game with 17 seconds left.
The Gators were fueled by the efforts of Thomas Haugh and Boogie Fland down the stretch. Florida has now won five straight games against its in-state rival.
The junior forward finished the night with 20 points and 13 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season. Fland had 18 points — 14 came in the second half — five rebounds and led all players with four steals.
“We knew coming in we were gonna give them our best and they would give us their best,” Haugh said.
Rueben Chinyelu also logged a double-double with 16 rebounds, seven of which were offensive rebounds, along with 10 points.
His efforts on the glass contributed to the Gators outrebounding the Seminoles 58-36, which included a 17-8 advantage on offensive rebounds.
“We know that he’s capable of doing what he did tonight,” Golden said. “He did a great job of controlling the boards … really, really proud of his effort.”
Chinyelu’s work on the boards proved crucial down the stretch.
At the 13:19 mark in the second half, Chinyelu fought off Florida State defenders for the offensive rebound off a missed free throw by Haugh. The extra possession led to a 3-pointer from Fland, his first make in eight attempts this season, and cut the Florida deficit to one.
“Boog started it by getting that first one to drop and hit a big-time corner three that allowed us to extend,” Golden said. “We needed each and every one of those to get this win tonight."
Florida State’s offensive efforts were fueled by senior guard Robert McCray V, who finished the night with 29 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field. He answered Urban Klavzar’s corner three with a layup to cut FSU’s deficit to two with 49 seconds left. Then he hit a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in the game, cutting Florida's lead to 78-76.
Earlier in the game, McCray’s defensive pressure helped create three steals, powering the Seminoles to a 18-10 advantage in the turnover battle.
Despite McCray's late-game effort, Florida stayed the course to hand Florida State its first loss of the season.
Next, Florida takes on Miami (3-0) at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
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.
