San Diego from above (photo by West Coast Aerial Photography)
California Dreamin': UF Tips Off Tough Stretch vs TCU in San Diego
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
SAN DIEGO – The last time the Florida basketball team came to California it was hitting on all cylinders.
The No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament East Region, the Gators not only were rolling but rollicking. Coach Todd Golden and a handful of UF staff members were back in their old San Francisco stomping grounds, practicing in their old gym at their previous school, eating at their favorite restaurant, touching grass at Golden Gate Park and walking the beach at Lands End Lookout. Then, best of all, winning their Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups en route to the Final Four.
The Market Street cable car, Santa Cruz Mountains and Pacific Ocean provided quite the scenic backdrop for one of a handful of memorable stops along the way to the 2025 national championship, as well as the program's first trip to California in 35 years. The wait was worth it.
The Gators' charter flight lands in San Diego just before sunset Tuesday afternoon.
Nine months later, here the the Gators are again, back on the west coast, amid a different mountain range, in different city and dealing with very different circumstances. Regarding the latter, instead of the do-or-die postseason, UF is early in its regular season – the holiday tournament season, in fact – and very much in the figuring-things-out process.
Especially on offense.
"We need to shot-make better – I think we're missing some good looks and we're having too many careless turnovers," Golden said this week. "We're playing really unselfishly. The [offensive] rebounding part of what we want to do is there and our foul-drawing is there. The glaring area we need to get better? Shot-making. We need to be better that way if we want to have the type of season we want to have."
The next chance to do so for the 10th-ranked Gators (4-1) comes Thursday afternoon against defensive-minded Texas Christian (3-2) in the Rady Children's Invitational, a two-day, four-team Thanksgiving tournament at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego. Depending on the outcome, UF will face either Wisconsin or Providence in Friday's second game, then board a red-eye charter home to begin preparations for a couple more challenges of note.
A road date at No. 4 and unbeaten Duke on Tuesday, followed by a trip to New York City a week later to face unbeaten and fifth-ranked Connecticut in its backyard at Madison Square Garden.
So, it'd be nice to settle that "shot-making" issue sooner rather than later.
And why not out here?
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" tournament setup here]
Florida, as of Wednesday, ranked 22nd nationally in offensive efficiency. That's pretty sound, but the Gators finished last season ranked No. 2 and Golden, who took over the offense after coordinator Kevin Hovde left to become head coach at Columbia, is holding himself and his offense to a high standard.
"It's an opportunity for us to go out there and continue to get back into a groove," UF sophomore point guard Boogie Fland said. "We're still in the process of getting [the offense] where Coach would like it to be. We knew coming into the season there was going to be an adjustment and it was going to take time to click. But it's going to click."
Doing so against TCU, out of the Big 12 Conference, will take exactly the kind of effort Golden wants to see; one with shot-making and fewer turnovers.
UF junior forward Alex Condon getting up shots during practice Wednesday.
The Horned Frogs, in their 10th season under Jamie Dixon, are a defense-first program. Currently sitting 43rd in overall defensive efficiency, they're going to pressure the ball, extend the defense and aggressively run through passing lanes.
"This game is going to be similar to some of our conference opponents that like to put two on the ball and trap the post," Golden said. "They're trying to put you in scenarios where you kick the ball around."
Which means crisp passing will be paramount. It also means guys will be open for kick-outs at the 3-point line, where the Gators are shooting just 25.7% for the young season. That's last among the 16 teams in the Southeastern Conference and 341st among the nation's 365 Division I teams.
Worth noting: UF has incrementally improved from the arc over its last four games – 18.8% to 19.4 to 32.1 to 36.4 – and can make big strides in those numbers, as well as the overall offense, when transfer shooting guard Xaivian Lee, who is just one of his last 19 and 15.8% on a team-high 38 attempts for the season, finds his stroke.
And the Gators, to a man, say he will.
"It's a unique situation. Do I have confidence that eventually he'll get comfortable? Yeah, I do," Golden said, adding praise to Lee for how he has defended, rebounded and passed the all in light of his shooting woes. "We'll give him a little more time to get comfortable and hopefully make some shots. He shot it well all summer. He shot it well in the fall. It's obviously a little mental right now, and he's got to loosen up a little bit and just let the ball get through the net a couple times."
In Lee's defense, the same could be said about the rest of the Gators on offense. Throw out Lee's shots and UF is still at 29.4 from distance.
Practice Wednesday at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Maybe it'll take criss-crossing the country -- for the first regular season game in California since 1990 -- to straighten out their shooting eyes.
"We're going to go there and be aggressive, be assertive and play with confidence. We're going to know our keys, our principles and how to execute," Fland said. "If we just go out and do what we're told to do – do our jobs – we'll be fine. And the shots, they're going to fall."
