First-Half Dominance Surges Florida Gators to Road Win over Oklahoma

Rueben Chinyelu dominated with his ninth double-double as the Gators have now won three straight SEC games.

Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu (9), seen here in the win over Tennessee, recorded his second straight double-double in the win over Oklahoma. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Leading for over 38 minutes of Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma, there was little doubt the Florida Gators would take home the win with a 96-79 thrashing of the Sooners.

Rueben Chinyelu, with 19 points and 12 rebounds, recorded his second-straight double-double as Florida dominated the glass, out-rebounding Oklahoma, 43-31, and the paint, where they out-scored Oklahoma, 60-22.

C'MON NOW RUE 😤

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/ruB0GZpw0H

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 14, 2026

Thomas Haugh added a team-high 21 points with seven rebounds, while Boogie Fland (15 points), Alex Condon (10 points) and Urban Klavzar (13 points) each scored in double figures. The win marked the first back-to-back 15-point games for Fland, who had 23 points in Saturday's win against Tennessee, since the win over Providence on Nov. 28 and loss to Duke on Dec. 2.

The win, Florida’s third straight since its SEC-play-opening loss to Missouri, largely came as a result of a dominant first-half effort.

Tied 8-8 with 16:23 left in the first half the Gators went on a 27-7 run over the next 12 minutes to take a 35-15 lead. A Fland bucket pushed the lead to double digits, while a Haugh 3-pointer pushed it to 20. Haugh finished the game shooting 3-for-5 from deep as part of an 8-for-13 shooting effort.

Florida outshot Oklahoma 54 percent to 29 percent, had more points in the paint (30) than the Sooners had total points (24) and forced seven turnovers in the first half. 

Haugh himself scored 12 points in the first half, while Chinyelu recorded eight of his 12 total rebounds in that time. Klavzar and Fland added eight points and seven points each in the first half, respectively.

knock it down Tommy ‼️

📺 ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/UXLCeGSP4Y

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 14, 2026

The Gators wasted little time to extend its lead in the second half, eventually pushing the lead to 29 near the 15-minute mark behind a bucket from Chinyelu. Chinyelu, emerging as one of the top bigs in college basketball, recorded his ninth double-double of the season with his effort.

Chinyelu shot an impressive 7-for-11 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the win.

Oklahoma put up a fight beginning midway through the second half, cutting Florida’s lead to 19 with under 10 minutes left behind four 3-pointers from bench big Kirill Elatonsev, who scored all of his points in the second half and finished with 17 points. The Sooners outscored Florida 55-50 in the second half. 

Florida remains on the road, looking for its fourth straight SEC win on Saturday at No. 10 and undefeated Vanderbilt. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN.