Can Golden get the Gators to play their best basketball in San Antonio?

The Gators beat Auburn in February without Alijah Martin (Photo by Chris Spears)

This is reach out and touch time. An NCAA championship, which would be Florida’s first since the back-to-back titles of the 2006-07 years, is two wins away, but that’s the same for Auburn, Duke and Houston, the other three teams that make up the Final Four. The team that puts the two best games together in San Antonio will walk away with the big trophy Monday night in San Antonio.

The Gators (34-4) have won their last ten games and 16 of their last 17, so there is no question Todd Golden has a team that’s hot at the right time, but have they played their best basketball to get here? Golden doesn’t necessarily think so.

"I think we still can get better, for sure,” Golden said before the Gators held their last practice prior to taking off to San Antonio. “I don't think we've played a perfect game, by any stretch of the imagination. We've had some really good moments, obviously - we've won 10 in a row – so we've done some things pretty well, but we definitely haven't played like a perfect game.”

In winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the Gators were a wrecking ball that destroyed the three teams that dared get in their path and all of them ranked – Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee. Mizzou went out the first round of the NCAA Tournament while Alabama and Tennessee got close enough to sniff the Final Four but couldn’t pull off wins in their Elite Eight games.

In their four NCAA Tournament wins, the Gators have played extremely well in spurts, particularly at the end of the last three games when they’ve ended the seasons of UConn, Maryland and Texas Tech. But to play 40 minutes at a very high level? If the Gators could do that most college basketball experts would probably agree there isn’t a team that can touch UF.

So what is it going to take?

“We've had some slippage in some areas that I think is not super unique this time of year, because you got to balance practice with staying healthy and certain things like that,” Golden said. “But, yeah we got back from this past weekend, and we're breaking the games down, watching our film, and there's plenty of things that we can do better, so I think that excites us.”

The Gators will square off against overall No. 1 seed Auburn (32-5) Saturday evening (6:09 p.m., CBS). When the two teams met at Auburn’s Neville Arena on February 8 (90-81 Florida victory), the Gators led by as many as 21 points in the second half. The difference in the game was at the 3-point line where the Gators nailed 13 threes while holding Auburn to seven.

Five Gators scored in double figures led by Walter Clayton Jr., who had 19 to go with nine assists. Alex Condon and Tommy Haugh were Florida’s twin towers in this win. Condon had 17 points and 10 rebounds while Haugh had 16 points, nine rebounds. Will Richard scored 12 and Denzel Aberdeen had 10.

What made this win even more amazing is the Gators played without Alijah Martin, who sat this and the next two games with a hip pointer. Martin is Florida’s second leading scorer and one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. He’s healthy now and will be on the floor against Auburn this time.

Golden knows the Gators will have to play at their highest level to advance to the championship game. It doesn’t involve anything complicated, mostly just playing better in a few areas the Gators haven’t been at their best in the four NCAA games.

“We're gonna challenge the guys today, as we get back on the practice floor, with cleaning up some things that we think don't necessarily require a lot of talent, like blocking out and being strong with the ball, different things that have kind of maybe slipped a little bit,” Golden said. “The idea is we got three or four days to improve before this game on Saturday. We got to be at our best, if we want to stay alive."

Transfer possibilities for UF

The transfer portal is open for business but don’t expect the Gators to get heavily involved until next week after returning from San Antonio. Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin have used up their eligibility so they are gone for sure. Depending on which Gators might declare for the draft and which ones may elect to transfer out, Golden may be seeking to add at least three from the portal to go with incoming freshmen Alex Lloyd and CJ Ingram. Here are seven who may be on Florida’s radar:

RJ Luis Jr. (6-7, 196, JR), St. John’s: He’s a Miami native who was Big East Player of the Year and All-America playing for Rick Pitino. Luis averaged 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He played high school ball at Christopher Columbus before transferring to Mt. Zion Prep. From there he spent one year at UMass before transferring to St. John’s.

Matas Vokietaitas (7-0, 245, FR), Florida Atlantic: Playing 17 minutes per game he averaged 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He’s big, strong and has three years of eligibility remaining. Alijah Martin came to the Gators from Florida Atlantic. That worked out well. You can’t teach tall and he’s tall.

Jonathan Pierre (6-9, 210, SO), Belmont: A Hallandale native, Pierre averaged 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game for Belmont, which is where Will Richard spent his freshman year before transferring to Florida in 2022. Pierre shot 36.9 percent from the 3-point line. If there is a negative it is that Pierre’s next stop will be his third.

Scotty Middleton (6-6, 190, SO), Seton Hall: Middleton is from Miami. He prepped at Christopher Columbus before spending his senior year at Sunrise Christian in Kansas where he was a top 50 recruit. He played his freshman year at Ohio State, then transferred to Seton Hall where he averaged 5.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He shot 38.4 percent from the 3-point line. His next stop will be his third in three years.

Aidan Mahaney (6-3, 180, JR), UConn: He spent his first two seasons at Saint Mary’s, Todd Golden’s alma mater, where he averaged 13.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He transferred to UConn where he was the sixth man off the bench, averaging 4.5 points per game. He is a career 37.3 percent 3-point shooter and 76.2 percent shooter from the foul line. At Saint Mary’s was All-West Coast Conference twice.

John Bol (7-2, 210, FR): Bol was committed to the Gators before he flipped to Ole Miss. He was the No. 58 recruit in the country in 2024. At Ole Miss he discovered the grass isn’t always greener. Golden understands you can’t teach tall and Bol has that going for him.

Malique Ewin (6-11, 230, SO), Florida State: He was a top 100 recruit nationally in 2022, who signed with Ole Miss. One year at Ole Miss, one at a juco before breaking out with 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds for FSU this past season.

WHO WILL THE AGGIES LOOK FOR TO REPLACE BUZZ WILLIAMS?

As expected, Buzz Williams left Texas A&M for Maryland. This was not about money because only God and the Longhorns have more than the Aggies. This was about being the head coach at a basketball school that is THE top school in the state of Maryland. At A&M, Williams would always be little brother to Texas.

So who does Texas make a play for? At the top of the list is expected to be Ole Miss coach Chris Beard, formerly the head coach at Texas Tech and Texas. Another name that’s out there is Illinois coach Brad Underwood, who used to coach at Stephen F. Austin. A darkhorse candidate is Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland, who led Texas Tech to the Elite Eight game in the West Regional. There has been a rumor floating that if the Aggies whiff on a big name they may go the assistant’s route with Steven Pearl, son of Auburn coach Bruce Pearl.

SEC PLAYERS IN THE PORTAL

Alabama: C Noah Williamson (7-0, 224, JR from Bucknell); SF Naas Cunningham (6-7, 175, FR)

Arkansas: SG Melo Sanchez (6-4, 185, JR); C Zvonimir Ivisic (7-2, 235, SO); PG Casmir Chavis (6-0, 180, FR)

Auburn: PF Keyshawn Hall (6-7, 240, JR, from UCF)

Georgia: SG Silas Demary Jr. (6-5, 195, JR); SF RJ Godfrey (6-7, 225, JR); SG De’Shayne Montgomery (6-4, 190, SO)

Kentucky: PF Kam Williams (6-8, 190, FR from Tulane); PG Kerr Kriisa (6-3, 180, SR)

LSU: PF Noah Boyde (7-0, 245, JR); SG Vyctorius Miller (6-5, 185, FR); SG Mike Williams (6-3, 180, SO); PF Corey Chest (6-8, 220, FR); SF Tyrell Ward (6-6, 195, JR); C Michael Nwoko (6-10, 245, SO from Mississippi State); PG Dedan Thomas (6-1, 170, SO from UNLV); SG Rashad King (6-6, 198, JR, from Northeastern)

Mississippi State: SG Martavious Russell (6-3, 190, SO); C Michael Nwoko (6-10, 245, SO to LSU); PG Kanye Cleary (5-11, 190, JR); C Jeremy Foumena (6-11, 235, SO); SF Adrian Myers (6-6, 205, FR); SG Riley Kugel (6-5, 210, JR)

Missouri: C Jevon Porter (6-11, 235, JR from Loyola Marymount); PF Aidan Shaw (6-9, 210, JR to Boston College)

Oklahoma: SF Jacolb-Fredson Cole (6-7, 220, FR to McNeese); C Yaya Keita (6-9, 241, JR); SG Duke Miles (6-2, 175, SR)

Ole Miss: SG TJ Caldwell (6-4, 190, JR); PG Pop Isaacs (from Creighton); C John Bol (7-2, 210, FR)

South Carolina: SG Treyson Eaglestaff (6-6, 190, JR from North Dakota); C/PF Nick Pringle (6-10, 220, SR); SF Arden Conyers; PG Zachary Davis (6-7, 200, JR); CG Austin Herro (6-3, 180, FR); PF Christ Essandoko (7-0, 285, SO from Providence); SG Cam Scott (6-6, 170, FR); PG Jamarii Thomas (6-0, 185, SR); PG Meechie Johnson (6-2, 175, SR from Ohio State)l Kobe Knox (6-5, 185, JR, from South Florida)

Tennessee: PG Ja’Kobi Gillespie (6-1, 175, JR, from Maryland)

Texas: SF Devon Pryor (6-7, 185, SO to Oregon); SF Dailyn Swain (from Xavier)

Texas A&M: SF Rob Dockery (6-6, 215, FR); SF Jaelyn Lee (6-6, 195, SO);  PF Janusz Ratowski (6-11, 225, FR); Pharrel Payne (6-9, 255, JR)

Vanderbilt: SG Jason Edwards (6-1, 175, JR); SG Jordan Williams (6-2, 215, JR); SG Alex Hemenway (6-4, 190, SR); C Jaylen Carey (6-8, 265, SO); PF Jaqualon Roberts (6-8, 230, SO); PG Karris Bilal (6-2, 190, FR); SG MJ Collins (6-4, 190, JR)