Xaivian Lee looked out of rhythm through six games with the Gators.
After transferring from Princeton, where he had back-to-back First-Team All-Ivy League Honors, Lee struggled for Florida, shooting 23% from the field and 16.7% from beyond the arc before Friday’s game.
Against Providence, he turned it around, logging a season-high 20 points in the No. 10 Gators’ 90-78 win against Providence. Lee shot 7-of-16 from the field, 4 of 9 from three and logged seven rebounds and four assists.
The Toronto native did a majority of his damage in the second half with 12 points. He came out the break connecting on back-to-back triples, the first of which came after a crossover on the top of the key that left Providence’s Stefan Vaaks on the floor.
Alongside Lee, Boogie Fland had 17 points with four threes and 6-of-18 shooting from the field. He opened the scoring in the first half for both teams with a 3-pointer. The Arkansas transfer finished the night connecting four times from beyond the arc.
The Gators were playing without Alex Condon, who missed the game due to a head injury he suffered the day before after getting hit in the chin.
Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh stepped up in his absence, each recording a double-double. Chinyelu finished the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Haugh logged 16 points and 12 rebounds. Florida ended with a 42-37 rebounding advantage.
The frontcourt tandem carried Florida’s weight during the first half.
Toward the end of the first break, Haugh took control of the game, scoring 7-straight points to extend Florida’s lead to 13 points with 4:31 left. He drew four fouls, resulting in 11 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe at the half.
Chinyelu had 11 points to end the first half. He drew seven fouls during this span, which included two and-1s.
Off the bench, Urban Klavzar provided the Gators with a spark once again, recording 18 points with a perfect 5 for 5 from the free throw line.
The junior guard had 10 points at the break, including eight points in seven minutes. He finished the half on 3-of-6 shooting. In the second half, he had two 3-pointers in a little over a minute to give Florida its largest lead of 80-61 with 7:32 left in the game.
Florida will look to get Condon back in time and keep the rest of the offense in rhythm against Duke for the SEC-ACC Challenge on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
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.
