One of the great stories of the 2023-24 Florida Gators basketball season was the emergence of freshman Thomas Haugh. With the extra year of eligibility due to COVID and high major teams loading up with veteran players to be as old as possible, the impact of freshmen has been less than ever in recent years. While Haugh was getting a lot of positive reports out of training camp, expectations were still measured due to the fact he was a first year player, but quickly Haugh established himself as a rotation level SEC player.
Haugh is a player who had solid offers out of high school but many who evaluated him wouldn’t have expected him to be someone who could go to a school like Florida and compete right away. After a solid high school career he decided to take a post grad season at Perkiomen in Pennsylvania, a decision that ultimately paid off in a huge way. After securing the commitment to Florida he was able to work on his game, and the fact that he was a year older than most freshmen due to the post grad year meant he was also positioned to be college ready. In his first ever collegiate game against Loyola MD he played 16 minutes and had 6 points and 3 rebounds, not looking out of place as an energy forward off Florida’s bench.
Looking towards the 2024-25 season, Haugh is an important part of Florida’s plans. Last year nearly all of his minutes were at the backup power forward spot, but Florida’s staff has some plans of him playing the “3” in order to match up with some of the larger wings of the SEC. The last two years the Gators have been undersized at the wings which has been an issue, particularly defensively, and if Haugh is able to play some minutes at small forward the team instantly gets extremely long. Imagining a lineup of Reuben Chinyelu, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh means the Gators would have enough length to nearly go fingertip to fingertip from one side of the three-point line to the other, and suddenly it looks like the defense could be a lot more difficult to score on than it was a year ago.
Of course, Haugh still has work to do on the defensive end. Even though he came to college a year older than most freshmen it was still his first crack at playing college basketball at the top of the sport–and at times he struggled. Florida’s defense was considerably worse from a statistical standpoint when he was on the floor, and according to Synergy he was in just the 5th percentile nationally as an individual player. These numbers, as well as the film, are ugly–but that doesn’t mean Haugh is a lost cause by any means. Most freshmen struggle defensively, and Haugh ended up going against some tough competition in high leverage minutes and even really good defenders can struggle in that area. The biggest aspect of Haugh’s defense that will need to improve is his ability to close out and take away an easy jumper while still allowing enough of a cushion that he can take away the drive. Last season the SEC had a lot of power forwards in the 6’7”, 230 pound range that were extremely athletic, and it put Haugh in some difficult matchups. He was often tasked with being the “low man” (the player responsible for helping on pick and rolls) which consisted of rotating under the basket, only to then have to sprint back to his man on the perimeter. Haugh allowed 1.16 PPP in spot up situations, a poor number that shows the biggest area he needs to improve defensively. Given the way he was able to adjust to the college game right away and the fact that he has the physical tools to be a great close out defender, you can expect huge improvement in this area year two.
Haugh was excellent from a shot blocking standpoint, and if you’re looking for a shocking stat in this article I’ve got one for you. He posted a 4.4% block rate, which was higher than Tyrese Samuel’s (3.7%) and more notably–Micah Handlogten’s, who posted a 4.3% block rate. Haugh has great anticipation and his mix of foot speed and length makes him an excellent help side shot blocker which is definitely the best part of his defensive game.
Another area Haugh deserves credit for is the defensive glass, where his 16.8% defensive rebound rate is solid for a high major power forward. It’s not an elite number by any means–but it’s starter level production and that’s something you have to be thrilled about from a freshman.
Offensively Haugh has shown flashes of ball handling and downhill driving, and he was known as a knock down shooter in high school. While he caught some rhythm in the middle of the season and had a 3-4 performance against Georgia the three-point shot hasn’t quite been realized at the college level, and he finished the year at 26% from deep. As a skinnier, tall forward the three-point shot is likely going to have to be a big part of his game if he’s going to reach his potential, so watching for how the jumper develops is going to be a big part of his sophomore season. A reason for concern could be that in addition to his three-point percentage he also had a miserable season at the free throw line hitting just 46% of his attempts. Florida’s coaching staff is confident in his ability to make shots and is chalking up the poor shooting season to just a typical freshman adjustment, so it’s definitely something to watch for in 2024-25.
Ultimately Haugh’s freshman season was a huge success. We see less players than ever come into college and be ready to contribute right away and Haugh did just that. In two of Florida’s biggest games of the season against Auburn in the SEC Championship game and against Colorado in the NCAA Tournament Haugh played 25 and 23 minutes–something that speaks to his importance to the team and just how trusted he was by the coaching staff. As is the case with all freshmen he has areas of his game he needs to improve, but he has also shown starter caliber SEC skills in a number of areas and he could be a huge piece of Florida’s bench unit in the 2024-25 season.