There isn’t a lot of orange and blue in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, as the small town just up the road from Gettysburg houses 1,901 people. One of which was Thomas Haugh, and when he first saw Florida play in the late 2000s, an out-of-place Gator suddenly wandered through rural Pennsylvania.
It’s fitting that Haugh sparked Florida basketball’s 10-point comeback against Texas Tech on Saturday with two consecutive 3s, vaulting it to the Final Four. A sophomore forward whose childhood love for Tim Tebow loosely played a role in his college commitment, it’s easy to imagine this is the moment that he always dreamed of. But, as is the case with many others who find March stardom, there wasn’t a set path that brought Haugh to the court in San Francisco.
As a high school quarterback, he was going to be Tebow — at least, that was the vision. But as he continued to grow, that dream transformed into one of basketball stardom, especially as he began to draw interest from low-major recruiters, and then ultimately, high-major ones as well.
“I thought he could defend at this level, and he has a great feel. He’s easy to play with,” Florida assistant coach Kevin Hovde told The Athletic. “So I thought no matter what, he’s going to be able to play a role.”
Hovde originally pursued Haugh as an assistant coach at Richmond, but as Golden took Florida’s job in 2022, the assistant received the call to come to Gainesville. His interest in Haugh traveled with him.
What remained consistent about Haugh were his intangibles. He was a lengthy, late-blooming defender whose heart and hustle have been the source of praise throughout his basketball career.
He sat down for media availability on Friday in San Francisco, only a day after filling in with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds after sophomore forward Alex Condon suffered a first-half injury against Maryland. The first two questions he received pointed at one characteristic: his tenacity. The man he replaced on the court jumped in to answer.
“He plays with an unbelievable amount of effort. Every time he steps on the court he's willing to dive on loose balls,” Condon said. “He just does a lot of little stuff that helps us win.”
But when Haugh scored 20 points, snatched 11 rebounds and shot 6 of 11 from the field in the Elite Eight, it wasn’t all the product of effort that occurred in the game. He worked at this for months.
In Haugh’s first season at Florida, he struggled at the free throw line, shooting 45.7 percent, and from 3-point range, shooting 25.5. Each of those clips has jumped astronomically in year two to 80.4 and 33.3 percent, respectively. Additionally, he’s jumped his assist total from 0.6 to 2.2 per game en route to leading Florida in win shares at .225 per 40 minutes, which Golden has said “surpassed [his] expectations” for this season.
Saturday night was just a continuation of the progress he’s made this season. Although he’s come off Florida’s bench nearly every game this season, his selflessness, which oozes Tebow at his finest, will be rewarded soon.
“He just finds ways to impact the game and to help the team win the most… just being comfortable coming off the bench when he could be starting for pretty much any team in America,” Golden said. “Obviously, he'll start for us next year.”
In the final moments on Saturday, he was yet again coming off the bench, but it didn’t show that he may be out of place. With 2:50 on the clock, he knocked down the first of his pair of 3-pointers, pulling Florida within six. Less than 30 seconds later, he drilled another that gave Walter Clayton Jr. the opportunity to win the game.
New Oxford, which barely could field a high school basketball team, was far away, but a vision that was born in it was coming to reality with each shot. Wearing a confidence reminiscent of a past Florida football player, one that sponsored that very vision, Haugh took the podium underneath the Chase Center, clad in a blue “Final Four” shirt.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” he said, smiling into the crowd of eager writers. “I was watching the round of 64 in the eighth grade, sneaking my phone into science class. Now, to say I’m playing in the Final Four is wild. It’s wild.”
Contact Noah White at nwhite@alligator.org. Follow him on X @noahwhite1782.
Noah is a Spring 2025 Assistant Sports Editor and Copy Desk Chief. He's a second-year journalism major who enjoys reading and shamefully rooting for Tennessee sports teams. He is also a Liberty League Women's Soccer expert.
