Gators Who Are Looking to Carve Out Bench Roles in 2025-26

With its starting lineup pretty much decided, the Florida Gators are looking to establish its bench roles for 2025-26.

Florida Gators guard Urban Klavzar carved out a role off the bench last season, but he has a chance to expand his role in 2025-26. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

A staple of the Florida Gators' 2024-25 national championship-winning roster was the depth it had across the board. Behind the dominant starting five were Denzel Aberdeen, Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten, who were a big reason they ended the season in glory last year.

Unfortunately for Gators head coach Todd Golden, his yearly battle with roster attrition led to him losing Aberdeen through the transfer portal to a conference rival. It also forced him to elevate Haugh into the starting lineup. As a result, he would have to find new faces to replace them on the bench. 

As for these newcomers, Golden believes several of them have a chance to solidify important roles off the bench in the 2025-26 campaign, given their performance so far during the offseason. 

“Looking at the rest of the roster, we have a great opportunity for a couple guys to step up and earn big minutes,“ Golden said during SEC Media Days on Wednesday. “Urbie Klavzar is a guy, rotational player for us. CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd, two freshmen, have done a great job. And Isaiah Brown and AJ (Brown) are guys that can play roles, as well.”

Handlogten's name was missing from this answer, but not because he forgot about him. Instead, it is because he views him as an extension of the starting lineup.  

“He's like a sixth starter for us. I throw him in that mix,” Golden said on Wednesday.

Although he comes off the bench, Florida Gators center Micah Handlogten is considered the team's "sixth starter." | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

The Gators' head coach has been raving about his summer improvements, as well.

"He's playing great right now, and as healthy as he's been in a long time,” Golden said during a media availability back in September. “I think he will be even more impactful for this year's team than he was last year."

There is little surprise seeing Klavzar mentioned in this group. He is in his second year in Golden’s system and featured in last year’s rotation quite often. 

The Slovenian national will need to be a more consistent 3-point shooter if he wants to carve a bigger role for the Gators this year, compared to last season, though, having only shown flashes of his shot-making ability. 

He was in his best form during February. Across a seven-game stretch, he was 11-for-19 on 3-point attempts. And, against Vanderbilt and Auburn at the start of the month, Klavzar went 5-for-5 from three across both games. He was just 6-for-31 on 3-pointers outside of this period. 

AJ and Isaiah Brown, Ingram and Lloyd are the others aiming to make an impact off the bench, alongside Klavzar. 

Isaiah, like Klavzar, is entering his second season with the Gators. He was handed a much more reserved role as a freshman, playing just 3.7 minutes per game across a 19-game sample size. There were signs of life, though, when he was on the court. He shot 37.5 percent from 3-point range on eight attempts and was a high-flyer on the fast break. 

Welcome to the Gainesville dunk clinic 😮‍💨

Isaiah Brown with the WINDMILL! @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/tDgF14cW4m

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 29, 2024

His brother, AJ, on the other hand, is in his fourth year at the college level, having played his first three years with Ohio. He had his best season as a redshirt sophomore last year, averaging 13.2 points per game and shooting 38.8 percent from deep in 29 starts. 

In Lloyd and Ingram’s case, they are having to work their way back up the totem pole after being one of the “guys” at the high school level. However, the freshman duo has impressed in the early parts of their Gator careers. 

“Usually hard for freshmen to play in our program. I think both those guys have a chance to earn roles,” Golden said on Wednesday.