FINAL: No. 5 Florida 108, Mississippi State 74

What Happened

GAINESVILLE, Fla.  – Forward Alex Condon scored 26 points, guard Xaivian Lee and center Micah Handlogten enjoyed memorable “Senior Nights” and Todd Golden won his 100th game as Florida’s coach, as the fifth-ranked Gators, minus their best player, shook off a slow start Tuesday night and smashed Mississippi State 108-74 to claim the 2026 Southeastern Conference championship all to themselves. 

With junior forward and leading scorer Thomas Haugh getting a night off for precautionary reasons, the entire roster picked up the slack, with six players scoring in double figures and another two with at least eight points. Condon went 12 of 19 from the floor. Lee had 19 points, five rebounds, six assists and just one turnover. Center Rueben Chinyelu set the program record with his 18th double-double, finishing with 11 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks. Handlogten, getting the start for Haugh in his senior farewell, posted 10 points, nine rebounds (all but one on offensive end) and three assists. 

Golden needed 139 games to reach 100, making for the fastest in UF history for a coach to hit the milestone. It took icon Hall-of-Famer Billy Donovan 154 games to do it.  

UF, which shot 55% for the game and posted 25 assists to just five turnovers, actually clinched the outright SEC title by halftime, courtesy of Georgia’s 99-89 defeat of second-place Alabama, but the Gators finished the job on their own and ended the night with a fat three-game lead in the conference standings with one to play in the regular season.

MSU punched UF early. The Bulldogs knocked down 10 of their first 12 field-goal attempts and led 24-14 after nearly nine minutes. That’s when the Gators took off on a SEC season-high 18 consecutive points, with seldom-used freshman guard CJ Ingram (8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists) summoned to eat up some of Haugh’s minutes, igniting the team and building by burying consecutive 3-pointers that drew UF within a point.

Four minutes later, UF led by eight and was on the way to a 47-35 edge at intermission. 

The Bulldogs cut the margin to nine a couple times, but a 9-2 UF run worked the margin to 16 and within four minutes the game, basically, was over.

Turning Point 

During the 18-0 run, seven different players scored. And, remember, Haugh was not out there.
 

Staggering Statistic

Florida, which smashed No. 20 Arkansas 111-77 Saturday, has eclipsed 100 points in two consecutive SEC games for just the second time in program history (and first time since 1975). The Gators inished the season 14-1 at home and improved to 43-3 at the O’Dome since November 2023 (a home court winning percentage of .935). 
 

Up Next

Florida (24-6, 15-2) will wrap the regular season Saturday afternoon on the road at Kentucky (19-11, 10-7) in a rematch of their meeting last month in Gainesville. The Gators won that one 92-83. The Wildcats, who lost at Texas A&M 96-85 Tuesday night. Mississippi State (13-17, 5-14) will be home against Georgia Saturday. 

Email senior writer Chris Harry at [email protected]. Find his story archives here.