GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After the T-shirts and hats had been divvied out, the confetti sprayed and the nets cut down, Florida’s fabulous frontcourt trio took seats at the post-game podium wearing their fresh 2026 Southeastern Conference championship swag.
The seventh-ranked Gators had just taken No. 20 Arkansas to the slaughterhouse, making pork chops out of the Razorbacks and an offense that came to town with the momentum of a runaway freight train. UF’s 111-77 victory was so thorough in its domination that the Gators led by fewer than 20 for just 46 seconds of the game’s final 23-plus minutes.
Forwards Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh joined center Rueben Chinyelu, three starters from last season’s SEC Tournament and NCAA championship team, in the interview room to take questions about the program’s first league title since 2014.
“It’s the one we didn’t have yet, so we’re pretty excited about that,” Condon said of the team’s newest incoming hardware, but adding a caveat. “I feel like in the scale of things it’s a small accomplishment for us this year. This is the smallest one that we wanted to achieve. We got it done. It’s good. But, you know, now [it’s] on to the next thing.”
And there are so many things still out there.
frame it. pic.twitter.com/iq5CvFhxWC
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 1, 2026
The Gators (23-6, 14-2), winners of nine in a row and 14 of the previous 15, clinched no worse than a share of the conference crown, but can claim it outright by winning one of their two remaining regular-season games; Tuesday at home against Mississippi State or next Saturday at Kentucky.
“We want the whole thing to ourselves,” junior forward Thomas Haugh said.
Make that eight SEC championships in program history, joining the titles of 1989, 2000, ’01, ’07, ’11, 13 and ’14. But more importantly, to the here and now, Florida is playing as well as any team in the country, what with its margin of victory of 22.0 points during the nine-game streak, including wins over three ranked opponents along the way.
With the results of the past week near the top of the college basketball rankings, the Gators’ recent run of dominance has put them smack in the mix for a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, after they play as the No. 1 seed (clinched, by the way) in the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville, Tenn.
“If we take care of business and play really well, there’s not a seed out there that is unattainable for us,” Gators coach Todd Golden said after winning the 99th game of his four UF seasons. “Obviously, there are other teams competing for it, but we have a lot that’s under our control down the stretch here.”
They were in complete control against the Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5), who came to town with the fourth-rated offense in the country, leading the league in shooting percentage and with one of the most electrifying players in the country in freshman point guard Darius Acuff Jr. Arkansas and its rookie playmaker, however, were completely outclassed, as was their coach, Hall-of-Famer John Calipari, who left the O’Dome with a 34-point bludgeoning that equaled the most lopsided of his 34 collegiate seasons.
Things got so bad for Calipari that he got into a shouting match with Golden during a dead-ball sequence resulting in double-technical fouls on both.
“Who knows?” Calipari said when asked what led to the back-and-forth. “We’re both competitors and he’s done a great job. I can tell you this: He out-coached me today.”
Coaching was just part of the Hogs’ problems, what with the issues they had on both ends of the floor, as Florida led by as many as 24 in the first half and 37 in the second. In theme, it was UF’s largest win ever over a ranked opponent and came an hour before the calendar flipped from February to March (as in “Madness”). Excellent timing.
It had been nine years since a Florida team put seven players in double-figure scoring in a game. Haugh bounced back from his season-low four points in Wednesday’s win at Texas, leading the way with 22 points. Center Rueben Chinyelu posted his league-high 17th double-double of the season with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Condon had 17 points and six boards. Backup guards Urban Klavzar (four 3s) and Isaiah Brown combined for 25 points, off the bench with point guard Boogie Fland throwing in 14 against his former team and backcourt mate Xaivian Lee good for 13 points and five assists.
But Arkansas’s biggest issue was with the Florida defense.
Rueben Chinyelu plays to the crowd upon heading to the bench with another double-double.
The Razorbacks came in averaging 90.0 points, shooting a league-high 51.6% from the floor and a solid 35.2 from the 3-point line. Against the Florida defense that came in ranked No. 4 nationally in efficiency, the Hogs shot just 40.0% for the game and made just four of 13 from the 2-point line (30.8%). Acuff came in as the SEC’s scoring leader at 25.1 points and assists leader at 6.3 per game in league play, while shooting 50.2% from the floor and 42% from the 3-point line. He finished with 17 points on 6-for-19 overall, one of three from deep, with six assists and three turnovers.
“We were just trying to play to our strengths and take advantage of whatever shows up,” Chinyelu said.
Eventually, everything showed up, but it took a minute. Six actually. Florida trailed 16-11 nearing the 14-minute mark, but ripped off 12 straight points. Then came a 14-1 run that starter about four minutes later, with Brown scoring eight straight on his way to a staggering plus-21 on-floor score over just nine first-half minutes.
The Gators, after holding the Hogs to just 35% through the first 20 minutes, led 53-34 at the break and increased that 19-point edge to 30 with still nearly 15 minutes to go.
“I wish it had gone faster,” Calipari said of a second half he mostly remained seated.
Xaivian Lee (left) and Boogie Fland (0) rejoice during the second half as the Gators close in on the title.
The agonizing final minutes for Calipari were joyful ones for the season-high crowd of more than 11,000, a nice chunk of which stuck around for the jubilant post-game ceremony. Lots of smiles, hugs and selfies.
Then Golden got his team in the locker room. It was a time to celebrate, yes, but the work had to commence again Sunday, with the first goal claiming the championship all to themselves on their home floor Tuesday.
And whatever comes after.
“This can’t be the best thing that happened to us this year,” said Golden, whose team went 8-0 in February and aggressively climbed the power metric tables that ultimately will determine the NCAA field. “We’ve opened up a lot of opportunities for ourselves down the stretch. And if we take care of business and play really well, there’s not a seed out there that is unattainable for us. Obviously, there’s other teams competing for it, but we have a lot that’s under our control down the stretch.”
Maybe more hats and T-shirts too.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at [email protected]. Find his story archives here.
