Where did Florida Basketball Land in Second AP Poll?

The Florida Gators opened the season with a loss to Arizona and win over North Florida.

The Florida Gators play FSU and Merrimack at home this week. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Florida Gators dropped seven spots on Monday in the newest AP Top 25 after starting the year 1-1. They now sit at No. 10 in the top 25. 

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Florida began their season off with a matchup against the Arizona Wildcats. Unfortunately for the defending champions, it did not go as they had hoped, as they fell to the Wildcats 93-87. 

The Gators got off to a hot start in this one, jumping out to a 32-20 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. Shots were dropping in for everyone, with eight different Gators having points to their names.  

However, that is when Arizona dug its heels in and began the comeback. Over the next three minutes, the Wildcats went on a 13-2 run to cut the Gators' lead to just one. By the final whistle of the first half, Arizona led 50-46. 

Arizona controlled the game to begin the second half as well. Every time Florida generated momentum, Arizona answered right back. 

That was until around the 10-minute mark of the second half. From here, Florida went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 67 apiece. 

After this point, it became a back-and-forth affair up until three minutes left in the contest. Arizona slowly started to pull away with under three minutes to go, building up a seven-point lead again. 

Florida did make it a one-possession game again heading into the final minute of the contest, though, thanks to inbounding errors from Arizona. However, they could not connect on several open game-tying shots over the last 60 seconds. 

Star junior Thomas Haugh led the Gators in scoring in the season opener. He had 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while also having four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. 

“I thought Tommy [Haugh] did a great job leading down the stretch, keeping everybody together,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said after the loss. 

Another influential player in this game was Micah Handlogten, who featured off the bench. Handlogten was perfect from the field on five attempts, scoring 11 points and bringing down 12 rebounds. 

Florida rebounded in their second game of the season against North Florida on Thursday, demolishing the Ospreys 104-64 in Gainesville. 

Star center Alex Condon had a bounce-back performance after a rough outing against Arizona. He logged a double-double, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He also had four assists, three blocks and two steals.  

“I thought he was great,” Golden said. “He just had a great mentality. I thought he did a great job of letting the game come to him, being aggressive when he needed to and had obviously a very efficient night.”

The other major contributor was Handlogten. Once again, he recorded a double-double. He added 17 points and 13 rebounds to his season total. 

Up next for the Gators is Florida State on Tuesday. The Gators host the Seminoles in Exactech Arena at 7 p.m.