Takeaways from Florida Gators' Impressive Road Win Over Texas A&M

Florida dominated the Aggies to move into first place in the SEC standings.

Florida Gators center Rueben Chinyelu recorded another double-double. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The No. 17 Florida Gators left College Station victorious on Saturday, dominating the Texas A&M Aggies, 86-67, to take first place in the SEC. That is the first win on the road against the Aggies since the 2019-20 season. 

“Incredibly proud of my team,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said. “I thought our guys did a great job for 40 minutes defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball, and playing with great poise. Led to a commanding victory.”

Several factors allowed the visitors to walk away with a win. However, the most crucial were the way the guards handled the Aggies’ defense, the physicality of the Gators' defense and the two-way performance from starting center Rueben Chinyelu. 

Here are three takeaways from the Gators’ win.

Starting Backcourts Picks Apart Aggies Fullcourt Press

Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee controlled the game from start to finish, consistently breaking the difficult Aggies press and leading to easy baskets on offense. 

“Our ability to not only take care of the ball, but really advance it and attack in transition led to a lot of runouts and dunks for us in the second half,” Golden said. 

Fland finished with nine points, four assists and three rebounds while Lee logged 10 points, three assists and three rebounds. The duo also combined for just two turnovers.

textbook work 📚

📺 SECN pic.twitter.com/qEwD2D0OTV

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 8, 2026

As a team, the Gators only had nine total turnovers and produced 21 fast break points and 14 points off turnovers. 

Gators Match the Physicality of the Aggies

Florida’s defense met the Texas A&M offense with much resistance in the battle for the top spot in the conference. It forced nine turnovers and difficult shots regularly against the Aggies, leading to only the second time this season that they were held under 70 points.  

The defense supplied the runway for the Gators to break the game open early. It limited the Aggies’ offense to just one basket and one made free throw in the first 12 minutes of the game. 

“When they start that way, there's a little luck involved in that, also,” Golden said. “But I think big-picture-wise, our guys did a really good job of getting them to take the shots that we wanted them to take.”

Furthermore, it kept the Aggies at bay for the entire first half, with the Aggies ending the first half shooting 6-for-35 from the field and 1-for-14 from three. And, by the final whistle, Texas A&M’s offense was 22-for-72 from the field and 9-for-34 from three. 

Chinyelu played a vital role in stifling Texas A&M. He had the assignment of guarding Texas A&M’s best player, Rashaun Agee, on Saturday and did a tremendous job. Agee recorded only eight points and shot 2-for-13 and 0-for-5 from behind the arc. 

Chinyelu Commanding Presence Down Low

For the seventh time in league play and the 14th time this season, Chinyelu posted a double-double. The starting center for the Gators logged 10 points and 15 rebounds against the Aggies. 

Additionally, he became only the third player in program history to record at least 250 rebounds in back-to-back seasons since the turn of the century. He joins Al Horford and Joakim Noah as the only Gators to do so. 

textbook work 📚

📺 SECN pic.twitter.com/qEwD2D0OTV

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 8, 2026

His efforts on the glass played a key role in the Gators out-rebounding the Aggies by seven on Saturday. At the end of the 40 minutes, Florida recorded 50 rebounds compared to Texas A&M’s 43.