With less than two months before Florida’s season opener against Miami in Tampa, UF students can feel the excitement building for the men’s basketball team.
Students and fans alike got a taste of Gators basketball when the team hosted its first open practice at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center before Florida football’s season opener against Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
An early favorite for the 2027 national championship title, the Gators enter this season with expectations through the roof. First-year finance student James DeMaio said this upcoming season should be national championship or bust for the Gators.
“I’m pretty pumped,” DeMaio said. “I obviously watched March Madness. It was dope when they won, so I’m pretty hyped trying to run that back.”
The 20-year-old said one player he’s looking forward to seeing hit the court is senior forward Thomas Haugh.
Haugh is fresh off a 2025-26 season where he averaged a team-leading 17.1 points in addition to 6.1 boards per outing. He finished his junior campaign with All-SEC first-team honors before declaring for the 2026 NBA Draft. But after announcing his return to Gainesville on April 21, Haugh is expected to be one of the best small forwards in the nation.
“He’s got good athleticism, a good two-way player,” DeMaio said. “It’s kind of like a perfect fit.”
Seniors Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu round out Florida’s starting frontcourt, which was among the best in the nation last season in regard to rebounding. Like Haugh, the aforementioned declared for the draft but chose to return for their senior seasons.
Condon entered the 2025-26 season as an Associated Press All-American and was Florida’s starting power forward. The 6-foot-11 Aussie finished the season averaging 15.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per outing. He earned All-SEC third team honors despite shooting just 17% from beyond the arc.
“Whenever he’s on in the post, nobody can really stop him,” said sport management junior Cody Barrentine. ”If he really focuses on the post moves, I feel like he can really be unstoppable for us.”
Chinyelu is the reigning Naismith and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He finished the season averaging 10.9 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. The stat line made Chinyelu the first Gator since Bob Smyth (1975-76) to finish a season averaging double-digit boards. The Nigerian also set a single-season program record with 137 offensive rebounds.
Annalysa Pommells, an education sciences junior, said she had a sociology class with Chinyelu during her first year and hopes he has another successful season.
“That’s probably the only person I recognize, so it’s cool seeing him actually play,” the 18-year-old said.
Beyond the frontcourt, Will Curran, a 20-year-old biology junior, said he looks forward to watching fifth-year guard Denzel Aberdeen.
Aberdeen spent his first three seasons at Florida and played an important role off the Gators' bench, averaging 7.7 points per game and helping UF win its 2025 national championship. He then transferred to Kentucky for his senior year, where he averaged 13.6 points and 3.4 assists per outing, starting 35 of 36 games for the Wildcats.
On April 10, Aberdeen announced his transfer back to UF but is currently ineligible as he seeks a fifth year. Florida could seek a local court to grant Aberdeen a temporary restraining order, making the Orlando native eligible for the upcoming season. If he’s cleared to play, Aberdeen is expected to be Florida’s starting shooting guard and replace former Gator Xaivian Lee.
“He can bring a lot more spacing to the team, especially as a guard,” Curran said. “I’m really happy Xaivian Lee’s gone. I think Denzel is a little more patient and more used to SEC-style of play than Xaivian was.”
Outside of the starting lineup, students are eager to see how Florida's bench fares this season.
Monet Anton, a chemical engineering sophomore, said he’s excited to see reigning SEC Sixth-Man of the Year Urban Klavžar.
“The fact that we were able to retain a sixth-man of the year — he didn’t transfer somewhere else — I feel like it’s pretty rare to see a guy stay loyal to a team,” the 19-year-old said.
The junior guard out of Slovenian averaged 9.6 points per game on 40.6% shooting from 3-point range. He recorded double-digit points in 18 games, including a career-high 20-point outing against TCU on Nov. 27.
Josiah Haglund, a politics, philosophy, economics and law senior, said he played against Florida’s sophomore forward CJ Ingram in high school, who spent three of his four high school seasons at Hawthorne High School. Haglund faced Ingram in district and state championship games, and Ingram won each game with a buzzer-beater.
Representing Alachua County, Haglund said he is excited to see Ingram take on a much larger role.
Last season, Ingram played in 21 of Florida’s 34 outings, averaging 5.3 minutes per appearance. With Micah Handlogten’s transfer to Ole Miss, Ingram is expected to be a core member of Florida’s eight-man rotation.
“I want to see him excel and succeed and play a big role,” Haglund said. “I know he’s going to be great. He’s definitely packed down a few pounds since we played him in high school, so it’s really good to see where he’s come.”
For first-year architecture student Madison Loudon, the buzz surrounding this year’s team provides her an opportunity to become a fan.
The 18-year-old said she grew up a Florida State fan because her dad went to school there, but that once she arrived in Gainesville, she got season tickets for the men’s basketball games after hearing the team is expected to be successful this season.
“It’s hard to keep a great standing team in any sport, but I have high expectations,” she said. “I think we’ll be good this year. I think we can make it to March Madness. I think we’ll perform well.”
Whether it's focusing on starters, bench players or the fan experience, UF students are excited for the 2026-27 season, as their men’s basketball squad is expected to be the preseason No. 1 team in the nation.
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.
