BATON ROUGE, La. – They were once again without their best rebounder due to injury. And on a night when their first- and second-leading scorers fell short of their per-game averages, and their third-leading scorer went scoreless, the Florida Gators won their 19^th game by double digits, including an eighth in rugged Southeastern Conference play.

It wasn't easy, but it was very 2025 Florida Gator-like. As in thorough, all-encompassing and, eventually, pretty impressive. 

"That's who we are," sophomore forward Thomas Haugh said after UF's 79-65 win at LSU Saturday night. "We find ways to get it done."

And with different guys. 

This time, it was sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu, who bodied and banged in the low post for a career-high 19 points (on 8 of 14 from the floor, 3-for-3 from the line) and 13 rebounds, plus a couple blocks. He did so alongside sophomore forward Thomas Haugh, making his third straight start for classmate and top rebounder Alex Condon (ankle). Haugh, who was 7-for-9 overall and hit both his 3-point attempts, scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime, while clearing 10 rebounds to go with three assists, and impacted the game with timely energy plays (usually dunks) during a second half when he never came off the floor.
 
Their dueling double-doubles and work underneath allowed the Gators (24-3, 11-3), winners of six in a row, to smash the Tigers (14-13, 3-11) on the glass, 48-33, including 19-12 on the offensive end, and paved the way for a 17-8 advantage in second-chance points. 

"We imposed our will on them in the second half," said Florida coach Todd Golden said.

They needed to. The final score showed a 14-point advantage, but this one was a struggle, with the UF blowing a 14-point first-half lead, falling behind by eight early in the second half, then storming back with contributions from all eight players who took the floor, especially on the glass, where five different Gators had at least six rebounds.

That matched the five UF players who finished in double-figure scoring, making for a fifth straight game doing so and a program record. Senior Walter Clayton Jr. had 13 points and six rebounds. Fifth-year Alijah Martin, back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a hip pointer and coming off the bench the previous two, had 14 points and six rebounds. Backup junior guard Denzel Aberdeen had 11. The Gators shot 55.6 percent in the second hal and had a season-low five turnovers for the game, while defending the Tigers at 38.1 and holding guard Cam Carter, the league's No. 3 scorer, to just seven points on 3-for-13 from the floor and 0-for-6 from deep.  Each Gator – and that included backup center Micah Handlogten (6 rebounds), reserve guard Urban Klavzar (5 points) and scoreless senior guard Will Richard (5 assists, 2 steals) – impacted the game with winning plays at crucial times. Especially after the Tigers, who trailed 29-15 with seven minutes to go in the first half, struck for a 22-2 run to end the period – with five 3-pointers from four different players – that felt like a round-house blow.

But not a knockout punch. 

"They punked us," Golden said of the 37-31 deficit at the break. "At halftime we had to re-calibrate and make sure that we got back to defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball and doing the things that don't require talent." 

Haugh on that "re-calibration" chat: "We got way too comfortable in the first half. We got that lead and thought it was going to be easy. That's not the SEC. You get settled in [and] that can happen. Coach Golden gave us a nice little pep talk at halftime — I can't really say what he said — but we came out in second half and pretty much controlled it."

Not right away, but soon enough. The Tigers were up by eight, 46-38, after a 3 from Curtis Givens III (11 points), but six straight UF points, with two buckets by Chinyelu, started an 18-4 run. Clayton hit a short jumper to give the Gators a 49-48 lead just before the 12-minute mark. Klavzar, off a turnover, added a driving layup and Aberdeen followed with a steal and run-out layup to lead by five. 

LSU's Robert Miller III (19 points, 10 rebounds) hit layup to trim things to three, but Klavzar answered instantly with a 3-pointer at 10:42 – giving him one 3 in each of UF's six wins during the win streak – to go up six. The margin was four when Haugh skied to slam an offensive rebound, then about 30 seconds later drove the lane (and take advantage of a great seal by Handlogten) for a second consecutive dunk to put the Gators up eight with 8:56 remaining.  Back-to-back Tigers baskets cut the margin in half, but a Handlogten free throw, a third Haugh dunk and consecutive 3-point possessions from Martin (one the old-fashion way, the second a conventional one in transition off a steal from Richard) soon had the Gators up by double digits and on their way to an 18-point cushion, as LSU missed eight of its last 10 shots. 

"In the second half, they physically dominated us," Tigers coach Matt McMahon said. "They're just a really good basketball team." 

When it was done, UF had equaled its regular season and SEC win totals from a year ago barely three-quarters of the way through the schedule.

"We just embraced the moment and kept going," Chinyelu, the Washington State transfer, said after posting his third double-double of the season in – by far – his best game in a Florida uniform. "It's not always going to be sunshine. It's going to be rain sometime. So being able to act in that situation and fight through tough parts of life … you have to stand up and keep walking."

Walk they did to another win; a sixth in a row, each without at least one regular starter missing from the lineup; another vintage team win in this remarkable season. Like Haugh said, it's who they are.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu