Last season, Florida head coach Todd Golden consistently reiterated the point that then-junior guard Will Richard was one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation.
With a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament potentially on the line, Golden’s assessment of Richard has never looked more accurate.
More than 24 hours before tipoff, UF students had already pitched tents in front of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for the following morning’s edition of College GameDay.
At the 4:52 mark of the second half, Richard splashed a deep ball to put the Gators ahead by 14, sending the GameDay campers into a frenzy.
"My team is doing a good job finding me," he said. "[I’m] just taking advantage of that."
In what was one of the most crucial and anticipated games of No. 3 Florida’s season, the Gators (25-4, 12-4 SEC) responded with an 89-70 win over No. 12 Texas A&M (20-9, 9-7) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on Saturday.
Richard followed up his 30-point performance against Georgia with 25 points to lead all scorers. He was also an efficient 6-of-9 from behind the arc and grabbed six rebounds.
UF sophomore forward Thomas Haugh followed with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Senior guard Alijah Martin and sophomore forward Alex Condon rounded out Florida’s leading scorers with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
"I’m just incredibly proud of the way we played and our ability to kind of get away from them at the end," Golden said.
Texas A&M has grown accustomed to its aggressive style of play this season and used it to take an early advantage. Back-to-back buckets inside the paint gave A&M a 7-3 lead less than two minutes in.
UF put a heavy emphasis on starting fast starting fast after being upset on the road by Georgia on Tuesday. However, TAMU senior forward Andersson Garcia knocked down a 3-pointer that led to Florida trailing by six less than five minutes in.
It took the Gators until the second half against UGA to kick their game into a different gear. On Saturday, however, just after A&M seemingly set the tone in the opening minutes, Florida caught fire.
UF ripped off a 11-3 run, which Condon kickstarted on a fastbreak flush that made the O’Dome erupt. Haugh had the hot hand amid Florida’s surge, draining two deep balls less than one minute apart to give the Gators a 19-17 eight minutes in.
From there, Florida never trailed. Haugh, junior center Micah Handlogten and junior guard Denzel Aberdeen combined for three strong finishes down low to push UF’s advantage to 25-19 with under 10 minutes left before halftime.
Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. was quiet in the first half, posting just five points. But it isn’t just one guard that makes up Florida’s elite, high-scoring backcourt — it’s three. Martin buried a pair of 3-pointers in the final four minutes of the opening period to put UF ahead 42-29.
Richard followed with a corner three just 15 seconds before halftime to give the Gators their largest lead of the first half (14). However, A&M senior guard Zhuric Phelps was fouled on a 3-point attempt just before the buzzer that cut the Aggies’s deficit to 45-34.
Holding on to a double-digit lead against one of the top teams in the SEC is no easy task, but it was one Richard was up for in the second half. The senior guard splashed a deep ball from the left wing and one from the right 44 seconds later to give UF a 51-34 edge less than two minutes out of the break.
A&M senior guard Wade Taylor IV has been sensational this season for the Aggies, as he entered the contest averaging over 15 points per game. However, he went scoreless for nearly the first 23 minutes of the game until he made a pair of free throws to shrink the Aggies’ deficit to 51-40..
Midway through the second half, the Gators were looking to put the contest out of reach. The Aggies, on the other hand, sought to muster a comeback on the road. However, neither were able to do so for the time being.
Texas A&M went on a 1-for-7 shooting skid while Florida was 1-for-8. That was until the Gators received a much needed spark from their bench. Sophomore guard Urban Klavzar scored a 2-point jumper for UF’s first field goal in over two minutes. The bucket also gave the Gators some breathing room, holding a 58-49 edge with under 12 minutes left.
Nevertheless, things were anything but comfortable for Florida during the final stages of the matchup.
Taylor IV found his rhythm with a driving 2-point bucket and a pull-up 3-pointer from well beyond the arc to cut UF’s lead to just six with eight minutes left in the second half. Even then, Golden was pleased with the effort put forth by the Gators defensively.
"I thought our guys did a great job on Wade Taylor IV tonight," he said. "I thought we did a good job keeping bodies on him, making him work for everything."
That was as close as Texas A&M would get to the Gators. Florida closed out its resume-boosting victory in emphatic fashion with a 9-0 run in the final three minutes, fueled by a made layup by Condon and a transition dunk by Haugh.
Ball movement proved to be massive for Florida’s ability to nearly hang 90 points on A&M. The Gators dished out 21 assists to the Aggies’ three en route to an efficient 32-of-67 (48%) outing from the floor and 14 of 33 (42%) from 3-point range.
"To have 21 assists against a team like A&M is a ridiculous number, and a big part of it was our ability to get into the teeth of the defense," Golden said.
Slowing down Taylor IV played a pivotal role in UF’s defensive success. The Gators held A&M’s leading scorer to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field – more than four points less than his season average. As a team, Florida held the Aggies to under 40% from the field and 30% from distance.
UF will have little time to gloat about its big win. Next, the Gators will hit the road to take on yet another ranked opponent, No. 6 Alabama, in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Contact Max Tucker at mtucker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Max_Tuckr1.
Max Tucker is a senior transfer student at UF. After obtaining his A.A. in Journalism from Santa Fe College in 2023, he chose to further his education at Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. Max is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a specialization in sports and media. He enjoys golfing and going to the beach with his friends in his free time.
