Gators Bigs to Join Golden at SEC Tip-Off '26

Florida is relying heavily on its bigs for this season, and three of them are set to join Todd Golden for the SEC preseason media event.

Florida Gators forwards Alex Condon (21) and Thomas Haugh (10) are taking on a larger leadership role for this season. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- When Florida Gators men's basketball head coach Todd Golden travels to Birmingham, Ala. for SEC Tip-Off '26, he will be joined by three returning players from last year's national championship team.

Juniors Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu will join Golden at the conference-wide preseason media event, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

representing at media day 🫡

ℹ️ https://t.co/414Wil3zif pic.twitter.com/wSxOp2cqwS

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) October 7, 2025

Condon headlines the trio as a potential First Round pick in next year's NBA Draft. Averaging 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season, Condon received considerable draft hype and even declared for the draft before returning to Florida for his third season.

“It was a long, thought out decision, just got with my family, my agency and stuff, had a good pre-draft experience, and really worked on my game," Condon said. "I feel like I’m a different player this year, offensively and the amount of work I put in in the offseason, and yeah, I just thought the guys we had coming back here were too good and it was another opportunity to compete for a national championship so that’s why I came back.”

Chinyelu also returned to Florida after initially declaring for the NBA draft. He was the only player to start all 40 games on last year's championship team. As a result, he has taken on a much-larger leadership role for this season.

"For me there is no pressure. It’s a game of basketball. The pressure is beautiful. It’s nice," he said. "Dwelling on it is something else. Just being able to know that, okay this what you do. You have to do it. You know your role. Yeah it’s good. Making the pressure get to you or thinking too much about it – it just deviates what it’s supposed to be. It’s a gift. Just being able to have it and be around it is nice."

Center Rueben Chinyelu cuts down part of the net after the Florida Gators' win over Houston in the national championship. | Kyle Lander / Gators Illustrated

Haugh, an emerging star off the bench last season, will take on a new role this season as the starting wing, something Golden hinted at last season.

"I think it's working out great, getting a lot more comfortable," Haugh said of his new role. "First practice is today (Monday), so we'll see how that goes. This summer went great for us. It was a good team summer. I was able to stay on the wing a little bit and work on that stuff and pick up. Whether it was in drills, I felt comfortable, I felt good."

The Gators enter the 2025-26 season with a massive target on their backs after last season's national championship. While the pressure of repeating is there, especially since Florida's first two national championships came in back-to-back fashion, Golden wants this year's mindset to not be bogged down in repeating.

“I want the guys that were here to take pride in defending and doing everything they can to get us back there, but on a holistic approach with this team, it wouldn't be fair to the new guys to be pouring into that all the way. We got a lot of steps to go before we get back there," he said. "So I'm not trying to put that -- pressure might not be the right word -- but that expectation on them right now.”

Florida opens the season on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas against Arizona.