No. 10 Florida anhillates Merrimack as Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu continue double-double dominance

Basketball

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Image Credit: UAA

The No. 10 Florida Gators made quick work of the Merrimack Warriors on Friday night in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, scoring the first points of the game and never looking back in a wire-to-wire 80-45 victory. The Gators, which will not play for another week, improved to 4-1 on the young season despite playing one of the toughest nonconference slates to date (not counting the Warriors, of course).

Head coach Todd Golden oversaw a complete effort in which Florida dominated the paint with edges of 53-25 rebounding and 36-22 scoring. The Gators helped themselves by hitting 78% of their 23 free throw attempts as they saw multiple players post double-doubles for the fourth straight game, a first in program history.

Let’s take a look at what went down in UF’s demolition derby of a game Friday night.

It was over when … Florida opened a 32-4 lead midway through the first half on the back of an 11-0 run to start the game and subsequent 21-0 run. The Gators ultimately led by 27 at the break. While the teams jockeyed for most of the second half, UF scored nine straight points to go up 36 and eventually led by a game-high 38 inside the final 3 minutes.

Exceptional efforts: Junior forward/center Alex Condon and junior C Rueben Chinyelu continued their dominant efforts in the paint, combining for 34 points and 32 rebounds in a pair of double-double efforts. Condon posted 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting with 11 boards (while again being a little sloppy with three turnovers) as Chinyelu scored 14 points with a career-high 21 grabs of the glass. Junior F Thomas Haugh was solid with 13 points, though he missed all four of his attempts from beyond the arc.

Gainesville, we have a problem: Redshirt senior guard Xaivian Lee remains mired in a horrendous slump that may cost him his spot in UF’s starting five. Through five games, Lee is now 12 of 53 from the field (.226) and 6 of 40 from downtown (.150). These are numbers nowhere near sustainable for a Power Four starter, let alone a roleplayer. Lee almost certainly needs to revert to a ball-handling role, but whether he will remains to be seen. It’s looking more and more like he may have been a rare scouting miss by Golden.

Odds & ends: Florida improved to 2-0 all-time against Merrimack with the programs first playing in 2023 … the Gators played three Power Four opponents in their first four games for the first time in 25 years … Florida defeated Florida State and Miami in the same season for the first time since 2005-06 … UF has one of the toughest nonconference slates in the nation … it’s the first time in program history the Gators had multiple players post double-double performances in four straight games … Florida has four players averaging 8.5+ rebounds, two more than any other team in the nation … redshirt freshman C Olivier Rioux registered statistics for the first time with a rebound and turnover while hitting 1 of 2 free throws in 2 minutes … guards sophomore Isaiah Brown and freshman CJ Ingram got some run, combining for 11 points in 26 total minutes

What it means: The Gators improved to 4-1 on the season by defenestrating an undersized Warriors team. That’s it, and that’s all.

What’s next? Florida will play consecutive neutral-site games next week in San Diego when it competes in the 2025 Rady Children’s Invitational. TCU is up first on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET with either Wisconsin or Providence awaiting on Friday afternoon. The Gators and Horned Frogs will play on FS1 with the second game set to air on Fox.