After winning SEC Player of the Week, Rueben Chinyelu proved why he deserved the accolade on Tuesday while making an early case for this week’s honors.
After his putback and-one off an Urban Klavzar missed free throw with 8:42 left in the second half, the 10,593 fans in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center erupted with cheers. Chinyelu was having another second-half takeover.
“I think you’re seeing a guy just continue to grow and get better in real time," head coach Todd Golden said. "He’s impacting the game tremendously. I think he’s just playing with such good balance, toughness, there."
As a result of Chinyelu’s dominance, No. 16 Florida claimed a (14-5, 5-1 SEC) 79-61 victory over LSU (13-6, 1-5 SEC). The junior center logged his fourth straight double-double and 11th of the season with 15 points and 21 rebounds. Despite being held to two points at the break, Chinyelu came to life in the second half with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Chinyelu tied the career-high in rebounds he set against Merrimack on Nov. 21, and is the first Gator to record four consecutive double-doubles since David Lee.
His dominance also showed in his ability to draw seven fouls, which played a significant role in LSU’s Mike Nwoko reaching the foul limit with 6:58 left in the contest.
Klavzar also came to life in the second half, as the junior guard recorded a team-high 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. His triple 6:19 to go in the contest gave the Gators a 72-48 advantage. He finished with 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Boogie Fland and Alex Condon rounded out Florida’s double-digit scoring efforts.
Fland finished with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting and ended the first half with six points on 2-of-6 shooting. His slam dunk with 12:17 to go before the break was off a Haugh steal and gave UF a four-point advantage.
Defensively, Fland also had two steals, one of which led to a dunk for him with 18:36 left in the second half, capping a 6-0 run for the Gators out of the break, resulting in a 44-28 lead.
"It's a 40-minute game," Fland said. "First 20 minutes we felt like we played OK, second half we wanted to come out with some intensity, pressure them, get on them, and I feel like we did that and it led to points in the fast break, just playing with more intensity."
Moreover, Florida’s defense held Dedan Thomas Jr., who entered the game averaging 16.2 points per game, to 2 points on 1-of-8 shooting. He was making his first appearance back from a lower-leg injury since Dec. 29.
Condon also recorded 10 points but on 3-of-9 shooting in addition to four rebounds and three assists. His dunk with 8:47 left in the first half gave the Gators a 24-18 lead.
Riding a 14-point outing against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Isaiah Brown was a factor once again off the bench. He finished with 8 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes of action. At the break, he recorded five points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Gators a 32-23 lead with 1:46 before the break, igniting a 10-3 run.
High school teammates Thomas Haugh and Xaivian Lee struggled on the offensive end.
Haugh finished with 7 points on 2-of-11 shooting. His sole 3-pointer came on a buzzer-beater attempt from 25 feet out, giving the Gators a 38-26 lead at the half. This was his first single-digit scoring effort since Florida’s 94-72 win over Dartmouth on Dec. 29. In that game, he played 27 minutes, eight less than he did against LSU.
Xavian Lee finished with 7 points on 3-of-7 shooting. Tuesday night was his third single-digit performance in the last five games.
The Gators will look to win their sixth straight game on Saturday against Auburn (11-7, 2-3 SEC) at home. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the spring 2026 men's basketball beat reporter and a second-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
