{"id":197386,"date":"2026-03-19T04:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:39:13","slug":"three-players-who-make-or-break-floridas-title-defense-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/197386\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Players Who Make or Break Florida\u2019s Title Defense Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having fought their way to a one seed for the second straight year, the Florida Gators<\/a> are vying to become a back-to-back national champion for the second time in school history.<\/a> This time, though, they are having to rely heavily on the frontcourt, led by Thomas Haugh<\/a>, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the Gators\u2019 championship odds could largely rely upon the backcourt once again. With that in mind, here are three players who can make or break Florida\u2019s chances at becoming repeat champions<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Xaivian Lee\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida Gators guard Xaivian Lee has found his groove after a rough start to the season. | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Which Lee steps on the court dictates how long the Gators dance in March. The Princeton transfer has shown that he can play in the SEC on occasion, while simultaneously showcasing his ability to go invisible on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest example is his two performances against Vanderbilt this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lee posted 20 points, six rebounds and two assists on 8-for-13 shooting and 3-for-7 from three in the win over the Commodores in Nashville. He also nailed the game-deciding shot, sinking a step-back triple to give Florida a 95-94 advantage with 45 seconds remaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, in the reverse fixture in which Florida was dominated<\/a>, the senior guard only had seven points and a 4-to-3 assists-to-turnover ratio. And, his defense also slipped in the rematch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Gators get the right version, they become that much more dangerous as a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boogie Fland\u00a0\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida Gators guard Boogie Fland has had a tremendous impact defensively. | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Unlike Lee, there has been one constant with Fland: his defense. The sophomore guard has put in consistent shifts on that end of the court, guarding each team\u2019s best perimeter player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, his game has not fully translated on the other end for Florida. At times, Fland has produced offensively, dishing out assists and connecting on mid-range jumpers and 3-pointers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is what Golden needs from his lead guard. It popped up against Tennessee earlier in the\u00a0<\/p>\n

year and several times down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should they get the other Fland, one highlighted by inefficiency, it could lead to the Orange and Blue bowing out early.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Urban Klavzar\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida Gators guard Urban Klavzar’s 3-point shooting has lifted the offense this season. | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The SEC Sixth Man of the Year proved to be a spark plug off the bench for Florida in 2025-26. The sharpshooter from anywhere on the court helped carry subpar perimeter shooting from those around him for most of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Klavzar may not score 15 to 20 points a night on this team, but his 3-point shooting is going to be vital to the Gators’success this postseason. His presence stretches the opponent’s defense and gives an added threat for Golden to use on offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most notably, Vanderbilt limited the guard’s impact in the SEC Tournament semifinals, which also negatively affected the Gators as a whole. While it was not everybody\u2019s best game, Klavzar still only attempted one 3-pointer. That has happened just one time this year, when he shot zero against UConn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a team that is defined by its frontcourt, it ultimately will come down to how productive the Gators\u2019 backcourt is in the NCAA Tournament if they want to be hoisting the trophy at the end of the season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having fought their way to a one seed for the second straight year, the Florida Gators are vying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-197386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}