No. 3 Florida Gators Falls to No. 13 Arizona, 93-87, to Open 2025-26 Season

Thomas Haugh scored 27 points, but it wasn't enough as Arizona's Koa Peat and Jaden Bradley combine for 57 points.

Florida Gators forward Thomas Haugh (10) scored 27 points in the loss. | Candice Ward-Imagn Images

LAS VEGAS-- The third-ranked Florida Gators men's basketball team on Monday opened the 2025-26 season with a 93-87 loss to No. 13 Arizona in the 2025 Hall of Fame Series.

Thomas Haugh shined with 27 points while going 12-for-14 from the free throw line, but the Gators failed to contain Arizona freshman forward Koa Peat, who had 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting, and senior guard Jaden Bradley, who had 27 points, including 11 across the final 5:08 of the game.

The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for Florida dating back to the regular season last year and marked the Gators' first loss in a season-opener since 2018.

Florida Gators on SI takes a quick look at how things unfolded.

Gators Share the Wealth Early, Arizona Comes Back

Eight different Gators scored the team's first 30 points.

Holding on to a 5-4 lead, Florida made seven field goal attempts in a row, including 3-pointers from freshman CJ Ingram and backup guard Urban Klavzar to take a 24-12 lead with 12:42 left in the first half.

INGRAM'S 1ST COLLEGIATE 3️⃣

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— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) November 4, 2025

Florida's backcourt scored nine of its first 11 points with Xaivian Lee hitting a 3-pointer and a layup to open the scoring before Boogie Fland and Klavzar added layups.

Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten each had buckets as the Gators took a 32-20 lead with 9:54 left in the half.

From there, Arizona went on a 13-2 run to cut Florida's lead to one point with 7:05 left in the half. Tobe Awaka tied the game, 39-39 with a layup two minutes later. Ivan Kharchenkov hit a 3-pointer with 3:53 left to give the Wildcats a 42-41 lead, its first since a 4-3 lead less than two minutes into the game.

The Gators had zero field goals from the 6:18 mark until a Handlogten dunk with 2:08 left as Arizona took a 50-46 lead into the half.

Arizona Puts the Game Away

Arizona extended its lead to nine points, 59-50, behind a pair of buckets by Peat and four points by Kharchenkov.

Haugh, meanwhile, kept Florida in the game, scoring 16 points in the second half, including 10 of Florida's 12 points from the 16-minute mark to 9:43.

do your thing tommy

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— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) November 4, 2025

A free throw from Condon and a fastbreak layup from Fland cut Florida's deficit to two points before Haugh added his 12th second-half point off a layup to tie the game, 67-67, with 7:49 left.

However, Arizona retook the lead, 85-76, behind six points from Peat, including a pair of dunks, and 10-straight points from Jaden Bradley, including a pair of free throws with 2:20 after Condon fouled out.

Florida went on a brief comeback with a pair of free throws from Fland, a layup from Lee, an and-one from Handlogten and a jumper from Haugh off a steal to make it 88-85 with 44 seconds left, but Fland missed the game-tying 3-pointer from the corner off a turnover a second later.

Peat put the game away with three free throws in the final 25 seconds.

Next Up

Florida hosts North Florida on Thursday for its home opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. with streaming coverage on SEC Network+.