The 2025 Florida basketball season had high expectations after the Gators won the national title the previous season. They brought back the majority of their frontcourt from last season, but they had to reload elsewhere. It has been a mixed bag, and they need to get things fixed. Head coach Todd Golden also identified the Gators' biggest issue and whether it's fixable.
Golden spoke to the media on Monday after the Gators lost to Missouri on Sunday, and he said the biggest issue for the Gators is their inability to make open three-point shots consistently. Sunday was a prime example, where they missed 10 shots that were considered “clean,” and if they had made just two more, they would have won the game and escaped.
According to Golden, Florida shot 3-13 from behind the arc on three-pointers that were considered “clean” shots. The Gators were a much better shooting team last year, and this year the inconsistency has been way more noticeable.
At the center of the three-point woes are Florida’s transfer guards Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland. Lee has at least started to turn things around, while Fland hasn’t even come close. Fland went 0-6 from three-point range against the Tigers. It has only reinforced the idea that Fland has been a massive disappointment relative to what Florida fans expected when they brought him out of the transfer portal.
For reference, Fland is 12 of 60 (20%) from the 3-point range, and Lee is 24 of 90 (26.7%) from distance, with neither player standing out much.
“Obviously, shooting has been our biggest issue and continues to be,” coach Todd Golden said Monday. “When you shot-make, it covers up a lot of your deficiencies, and we have not been able to mask those warts so far this year.”
The Gators are 9-5 and have failed to hit double-digit three-pointers in 12 of their 14 games. That cold shooting is dragging down a Florida team that embodies Todd Golden's analytics mindset, which prioritizes three-point shooting. Florida will have a lot of opportunities for wins in conference play, but they need to right the ship on shooting, especially when they have open shots.
