Florida's dominant first half leads to first road win of the season against Oklahoma

When the halftime buzzer sounded at the Lloyd Nobel Center, the only cheer came from the Gators’ bench and fans in the crowd.

Florida took a 46-24 lead into the break after complete dominance on both ends. The Gators were plus-22 in paint points, shooting 54% from the field. On the defensive end, Florida held the Sooners to 29% from the field and forced five steals.

OU’s redshirt-senior guard Nijel Pack, who entered the contest averaging 16.4 points per game on 49% shooting, was held to two points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and was forced to sit on the bench for the last two minutes of the first half after picking up his third personal foul.

Following the dominant half, No. 19 Florida (12-5, 3-1 SEC) cruised to a 96-79 victory over Oklahoma (11-6, 1-3 SEC) to grab its first road win of the 2025-26 session. UF picked up its third consecutive conference win after losing to Missouri on Jan. 3.

“We played really well the first 25 minutes of the game,” head coach Todd Golden said. “We defended incredibly well in the first half, did a great job being on Oklahoma's tendencies, And offensively, we just played with great purpose.”

Thomas Haugh led the way for Florida with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. At the break, he had a team-high 12 points, making both of his 3-pointers. The junior forward’s five straight points gave the Gators a 42-22 lead with 2:02 left in the contest. 

Alongside Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu was dominant. 

The junior center recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He did a majority of his damage in the second half, scoring 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting. He also played an important role on the defensive front, holding Mohamed Wague and Derrion Reid to a combined six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field. 

“My confidence has always been high,” Chinyelu said. “I’m just taking advantage of opportunities.”

Building off his best performance as a Gator against Tennessee, Boogie Fland logged 15 points on 7-of-16 shooting. He also had a team-high seven assists and was one of four Gators to record two steals. His steal on Tae Davis led to a layup by the sophomore guard, giving UF a 14-10 advantage with 13:31 left in the first half. 

Because of Fland’s defensive efforts, the aforementioned Pack was held to five points on the night on 2-of-8 shooting. Overall, Florida's defense gave the Gators an 11-7 advantage in the turnover battle.

“I thought he'd play a really good floor game inside the three,” Golden said. “Just a lot of winning plays out there. And he's definitely playing freer, playing with more confidence, and taking advantage of what the defense gives him.”

Alex Condon rounded out Florida’s double-digit scoring efforts from its starters with 10 points. He shot 5-for-10 from the field in addition to recording six rebounds and six assists. His first of two blocks led to a Micah Handlogten layup to give the Gators a 14-10 lead with 13:31 left.

Urban Klavzar provided a spark for the Gators off the bench with 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting, marking his third straight double-digit scoring effort. He logged eight points in 13 minutes at the end of the first half. In the second half, his steal-and-score gave UF a 76-53 lead with 7:34 left in the game. 

The only area where the Gators were dominated was from beyond the arc. As a team, Florida shot 6-for-22 from downtown, with Haugh recording half of those makes. Notably, senior guard Xaivian Lee was 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He finished with four points.

The Sooners, meanwhile, finished 10-for-16 from 3-point range, with eight makes in the second half. Kirill Elatontsev led OU from beyond the arc, making all four of his attempts. 

Florida will look to grab its fourth straight win as it heads on the road to face red-hot No. 10 Vanderbilt (16-0, 3-0 SEC) on Saturday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. 

Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.

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