After a season debut against Arizona that didn’t live up to his preseason All-America hype, Florida’s Alex Condon returned to form in the second game of the campaign.
The junior forward racked up 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, two steals and only one turnover in Thursday’s 104-64 home win over North Florida.
The effort was a far cry from the 11 points and six turnovers that Condon delivered before fouling out after he had played 29 minutes in Florida’s season-opening 93-87 loss to then-No. 13 Arizona on Nov. 3.
Condon and the No. 10 Gators (1-1) will look to move above .500 when they face rival Florida State on Tuesday night in Gainesville.
“I thought he was great,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of Condon. “Coming back from (the Arizona game), he just had a great mentality. He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself or making excuses. He was just like, ‘I’m going to get back to it.’ … I thought he did a great job kind of letting the game come to him, being aggressive when he needed to and had, obviously, a very efficient night.”
Micah Handlogten added 17 points and 13 rebounds vs. North Florida for the defending national champion Gators, whose top three scorers through two games are Thomas Haugh (19.5 points per game), Condon (18.0) and Handlogten (14.0).
The Gators’ frontcourt-led team dominated the Ospreys inside, outrebounding them 64-24 and outscoring them 66-22 in the paint.
North Florida shot just 31.1% from the floor and 25% from 3-point range.
The trip to Gainesville will be the first real test for first-year coach Luke Loucks’ Florida State squad. The Seminoles (2-0) began Loucks’ tenure with convincing home wins over Alcorn State and Alabama State by a combined 69 points.
Loucks, a career NBA assistant, has said he wants to bring an up-tempo, NBA-style offense to his team. That’s certainly been the case early, with Florida State scoring 100-plus points in each of its first two games for the first time since 1988-89.
The Seminoles are shooting 40.3% from 3-point range this season and attempted an ACC-school-record 47 threes in Friday’s 101-64 win over Alabama State. Eight Florida State players have hit at least one 3-pointer, led by St. Bonaventure transfer Lajae Jones, who is shooting 75% (6 of 8) from 3-point range while averaging a team-high 19.0 points.
Florida State is shooting 51.4% from the floor through two games, but the Seminoles’ offensive proficiency will be tested by a Florida team with a notable size advantage.
Only two of the Seminoles’ top eight players in minutes this season are taller than 6-foot-7, while the Gators rely heavily on three players 6-9 or taller.
“I’m looking forward to playing the reigning national title team,” Loucks said. “They’re talented and they’re big and they’re strong and they’re physical. Todd is a really good coach. It’s a great test for us.”
The Gators have won their last four games against the Seminoles after Florida State won seven straight games in the series from 2014-20.
–Field Level Media
