Florida had their season come to a stunning end on Sunday night as they were upset by Iowa in the Round Of 32 by a score of 73-72. Playing against an Iowa team mostly made up of mid-major transfers coached by D2 legend Ben McCollum the Gators struggled to get stops against the pick and roll conducting of Bennett Stirtz and in the final minutes when they desperately needed a score they simply couldn’t generate enough.
With the Gators up 72-70 and only 8 seconds remaining it looked like they were in a good position to get a stop and win the game, but their full court pressure completely collapsed. Playing way too aggressive for the time and score, Boogie Fland allowed Stirtz to catch the ball at full speed turning up the court, scrambling Florida’s defense as they had to rotate to take away a straight line drive layup. Stirtz made the correct play in finding center Alvaro Folgueiras, who calmly adjusted his feet behind the three-point line and hit what was likely the biggest shot of his life.
Perhaps somewhat poetically given he was the biggest piece of the portal class in the spring, point guard Xaivian Lee was the one with the ball in his hands for the final possession, and when it came time to make a decision instant of getting a shot up at the buzzer–he threw the ball into traffic and no Gator could even get a shot off as time expired.
The Gators did show plenty of fight as Iowa was able to jump out to a first half lead that stretched to as much as 14. There were times that it seemed the Gators were never going to be able to get anything going but they never stopped pushing, fueled by the heavy Florida contingent that was there to support in Tampa. Once the Gators took the lead back it seemed like the roof was going to come off the building, but Iowa’s calm, collected demeanor had them continuing to make the right plays on offense and defense that ultimately earned them a monumental win.
All season long Florida’s frontcourt was at the center of their identity, and playing against a much smaller Iowa team it was thought that the Gators would bully ball the Hawkeyes into oblivion. Instead, Iowa was able to constantly get Florida’s bigs into space on the perimeter where they struggled to move their feet, and actually forced Golden to do something he hasn’t wanted to do all year–play smaller. It actually looked like the 2024-25 Gators as Florida played much of the second half with Thomas Haugh at the “4” with Alex Condon at the “5,” which made them far more mobile defensively but didn’t allow them to play the brand of physical basketball that’s been the identity all season long. In college basketball where identity is everything and the clash of styles is what makes things so interesting it’s often the team that dictates their style of play that wins–and it was definitely Iowa who was able to impose their slow paced, more skill based style of play, and once the Gators were chased from their regular lineups you knew that they could be in trouble.
Rueben Chinyelu, a pivotal piece all season long, was mercilessly hunted on the defensive end, and frustration kept him from doing the things that have made him so successful. He finished the game with 0 points and 1 rebound in 19 minutes, a purely shocking number that needed to be fact checked multiple times since it was so unbelievable.
Alex Condon (21 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) was tremendous, as was Thomas Haugh (19 points, 6 assists), but the Gators simply didn’t get enough from the other pieces. Xaivian Lee was able to give a spark at times with 17 points, but when the Gators needed him most he wasn’t able to provide the scoring and vision the Gators required.
In addition to the smaller lineup the Gators employed, they also deployed a rare three quarter court press which they had done very few times throughout the season. It wasn’t to get steals–it was to take time off the shot clock and limit the time that Iowa had to go through their actions in the half court. It was effective in doing that, but it slowed the game down even further and showed again how Iowa was the more successful team in dictating their style of play.
Throughout the season, and Golden’s tenure at Florida, the Gators have been dedicated to conservative “drop” pick and roll coverage, and Coach McCollum came prepared to attack it. Continuously moving the defense and hitting the short roll, Hawkeyes were constantly operating in the middle of the floor and putting pressure on Florida’s defense, in a similar but still distinctly different way than Vanderbilt also picked Florida apart in the SEC Tournament. The utmost dedication to doing one style and doing it well served the Gators well in the regular season, but it meant that they weren’t prepared to be malleable in postseason play. Florida was able to use the press and change lineups fairly effectively but they had no counters for the biggest issue they faced with pick and roll defense and Iowa was able to take full advantage. The late game execution on both offense and defense was also disappointing, perhaps a side effect of the Gators not getting many reps in close games during the season in an SEC that was way down from what it was a year ago.
Overall it was an extremely frustrating end to the season, with the Gators falling to a team with a fraction of the talent on paper and NIL resources that they have. Many of the issues they had throughout the regular season came to light at the worst possible time as they seem to often do to teams in the NCAA Tournament, and they will now look to building a new look roster in 2026-27.