{"id":179003,"date":"2026-03-05T08:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179003\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:33:22","slug":"dog-pound-uf-annihilates-mississippi-state-108-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/179003\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog Pound: UF Annihilates Mississippi State 108-74"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla.\u00a0\u2013 Todd Golden<\/a> is a lanky 6-foot-4, but the Florida coach was literally swallowed up by his entire team late Tuesday night following the Gators’ 108-74 stoning of Mississippi State.\u00a0
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\nThe win was the Gators’ 10th\u00a0in a row, but more importantly officially checked their box as outright 2026 Southeastern Conference champions. That they did it in such buzz-saw fashion \u2013 ripping a second consecutive league foe by 34 points \u2013 was both impressive and exhilarating for the team and adoring crowd, but handing Golden his 100th\u00a0victory at UF, then manhandling him with a group hug and lift off the floor, made for yet another special post-game celebration.
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\n“They were messing with my hair a little too much” joked Golden, who reached 100 wins\u00a0in 139 games, faster than any coach in UF history, beating the previous mark of 154 set by Hall-of-Famer Billy Donovan (1996-2001). “We have really good relationships with our players. What’s unique is we get after them pretty good, coach them hard, but our guys know we care about them. It means a lot they were so excited for that milestone for me, but it’s really more of a program milestone than anything else.”
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\nWith so many more potential milestones to chase.\u00a0
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\n <\/p>\n

Florida is on an ABSOLUTE TEAR \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udc0a<\/p>\n

The Gators are the first team to score 105+ points and win by 30+ in back-to-back SEC games since Kentucky in 1971 \ud83e\udd2f@GatorsMBK<\/a> beat Arkansas 111\u201377 and Mississippi State 108\u201374.<\/p>\n

(Stat via @JaredBerson<\/a>) pic.twitter.com\/EaNQuOmmWK<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\u2014 The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 4, 2026<\/a>
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\nForward Alex Condon<\/a> poured in 26 points, connecting on 12 of 19 from the floor, to go with seven rebounds, but this was an all-encompassing stat night for everyone in the white uniforms. Everybody played. Six UF players reached double-figure scoring. The Gators (24-6, 15-2) shot 54.9% for the game, while defending at 45%, scored 70 points in the paint, rang up 25 assists to just five turnovers, doubled up the Bulldogs on the glass, 53-26, and scored 61 points in the second half.\u00a0
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\nThree days after disemboweling No. 20 Arkansas, 111-77, UF put together consecutive 100-point games in SEC play for the first time since 1975. And both those games 51 years ago went into overtime.
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\nOh, and they did it all with their best player, Thomas Haugh<\/a>, sidelined with a lower body injury due to precautionary reasons. Haugh, the team’s scoring leader and SEC Player of the Year candidate, is expected to be ready for the regular-season finale Saturday at Kentucky.\u00a0\u00a0
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\n“Multiple guys stepped up and played really, really well,” Golden said. “Just the collective effort in Tommy’s absence is what I was most proud of.”
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\nGuard Xaivian Lee<\/a> and center Micah Handlogten<\/a> rose to their “Senior Night” occasions with special performances. Lee, the Princeton transfer, finished with 19 points, five rebounds, six assists, four steals and just one turnover. Handlogten, the beloved 7-foot-1 backup center, stepped in for Haugh for his first start in nearly two years and had 10 points, nine rebounds (eight on the offensive end), three assists and a block.\u00a0
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\nCenter Rueben Chinyelu<\/a> posted his league-high and school-record 18th\u00a0double-double of the season with 11 points, 16 boards and three blocks. Point guard Boogie Fland<\/a> and backup guard Urban Klavzar<\/a> each threw in 10 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nFired-up Rueben Chinyelu<\/a> on his way to a SEC-high 18th double-double. <\/p>\n

The Gators, though, needed nearly half the first period to settle into a rhythm minus Haugh.\u00a0
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\n“When you start with me at the ‘4’ and Condo at the ‘3’ \u2026 we’d never done that, [not] even in practice. Ever,” Handlogten said. “Definitely took some adjustments and I feel like that’s why we got off to a little bit of a slow start.”
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\nThe Bulldogs took advantage, hitting 10 of their first 12 field-goal attempts and led 24-14 approaching the 11-minute mark.\u00a0
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\n“We threw a punch. It landed,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “I was excited with the way we were playing.”
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\nNot for long.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nMicah Handlogten<\/a> (3) came one rebound shy of a double-double in his first start in two years. <\/p>\n

With 11:28 to go, Fland made one of two free throws. Then came a defensive stop that turned into a transition layup for UF backup guard Isaiah Brown<\/a> (9 points, 4 rebounds). About that time, freshman wing CJ Ingram<\/a> checked in, marking his first high-end SEC minutes since early in the league season. All Ingram did was bang back-to-back 3-pointers to close the Gators within a point and force Jans to take a timeout to stop a 9-0 run.\u00a0
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\n“Great feeling,” Ingram said of his contributions (8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists).
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\nOut of the stoppage, the Gators ripped off another nine consecutive points \u2013 for a SEC-high 18-0 run \u2013 that pushed the home team in front by eight. By halftime, the lead was a dozen, 47-35, after hitting 12 of the last 18 shots, while State was missing 15 of its last 20.
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\nWhile in the locker room, the Gators actually wrapped up the unfettered conference title due to Georgia beating second-place and 16th-ranked Alabama. UF, though, didn’t want to claim the crown that way. And it showed.\u00a0
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\nIn the second half, the lead was 15 before the first media timeout;\u00a023 with 10 minutes to go; 30 with four to play and swelled to as many as 37. And that was before junior walk-on Cooper Josefsberg<\/a>, in just his second appearance of the season, hit his first career field goal; a 3-pointer, of course.\u00a0
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\nWhat a way to exit the final home game of what \u2013 again \u2013 is shaping up like a potentially special season.\u00a0
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\n“Obviously, it’s hard to top [the Arkansas win], but I just felt like the vibes were really good and I feel like we all played really well,” Lee said. “From the entire game to the last shot, all of it felt like a nice close to our playing in the O’Dome.”<\/p>\n

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\nCJ Ingram<\/a> (11) takes his MSU defender to the rack on his way to a career-high eight points. <\/p>\n

When the final horn sounded, Florida had its ninth win of the 10-game streak by double figures (the one outlier being a nine-point win over Kentucky), with the average margin of victory during the run at a whopping 23.2 points.\u00a0
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\nAt center court, UF athletic director Scott Stricklin<\/a> presented Golden with a game ball, complete with the number “100” emblazoned on it, as the crowd and team rejoiced. Especially the team.
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\nAll that was left was muddling through Golden’s gelled-up hair.\u00a0
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\n“I’m proud of the organization that we have and what we’re doing,” Golden said. “And we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”
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\nEmail senior writer\u00a0Chris Harry<\/a> at\u00a0chrish@gators.ufl.edu<\/a>.\u00a0Find his story archives\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0