Thomas Haugh's Double-Double Powers No. 1 Florida Past No. 14 Miami 77-67 in Tampa

The last time Florida walked off the floor at Benchmark International Arena, its season was over. Iowa ended the Gators' title defense in the second round of the NCAA Tournament there on March 22, and the building in Tampa sat on the program's memory all summer. Seven months later, the preseason No. 1 team in the country came back to the same court and left with a much better feeling: a 77-67 win over No. 14 Miami on Monday night in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic.

It was not pretty. The opener produced two technical fouls, three fouls upgraded to flagrants and 65 free throw attempts. What it also produced was a reminder of who Florida is when shots stop falling: a team that rebounds, defends and leans on a frontcourt that might be the best in college basketball.

Thomas Haugh led the way with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the preseason SEC Player of the Year did it without committing a single turnover in 38 minutes. Rueben Chinyelu grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots. And when Miami made its push early in the second half, the Gators answered with the kind of defensive stretch that wins in March.

A Tight Start, Then a Statement Run

For about eight minutes, this looked like a coin flip. Miami scored first on a Somto Cyril layup, and Acaden Lewis, the Villanova transfer making his Hurricanes debut, opened his night with a deep 3 and a 20-footer that put Miami up 9-8.

Then Florida flipped the game with a 9-0 run and never trailed again. Haugh set the tone early, splashing a 25-footer just over two minutes in, and the Gators' size started to wear on Miami possession by possession. By late in the first half, the Gators had built a double-digit cushion, and Isaiah Brown capped the half's best sequence with a putback dunk that made it 44-32. Denzel Aberdeen had already thrown one down of his own, and Florida took a 46-36 lead into the locker room.

Ten points at the half felt about right. Florida was winning the possession battle on the glass, and its willingness to fire from deep kept Miami's help defenders honest, which gave Chinyelu and Alex Condon room to operate.

Miami Punches Back

Jai Lucas did not take over a 7-24 program and turn it into a 26-win team last season by accident, and his group came out of halftime swinging. Miami scored the first eight points of the second half to make it 46-44, and the Hurricanes kept coming. With about 15 minutes left, Cyril grabbed a missed free throw and dunked it, and a lead that had been 12 late in the first half was down to 53-51.

This was the moment that told you something about both teams. Miami had the momentum and a guard in Lewis who was getting wherever he wanted. Florida had a choice between getting rattled or getting nasty.

The Gators got nasty. Domen Petrovic, who played just 10 minutes, buried a 3. Boogie Fland followed with one of his own. A 7-0 burst pushed the lead back to nine, and Miami got within six only once the rest of the way.

The Turning Point: Florida Turns Off the Lights

The real story of the second half was what happened at the defensive end. Florida held Miami without a field goal for roughly five minutes, and Urban Klavzar, the reigning SEC Sixth Man of the Year, punctuated the stretch with a 3 that made it 66-55. Over one span of the second half, Miami made one field goal on 19 attempts. Over the final 12 minutes, the Hurricanes made just three shots from the floor.

That is what Florida does to people. The Gators led the nation in rebound margin last season, and they picked up right where they left off, winning the glass 44-39 and keeping Miami to a 35 percent shooting night (21 of 60). Shelton Henderson, one of Miami's returning players, worked hard for nine rebounds but went 2 of 13 from the field. Malik Reneau, a first-team All-ACC pick last season who sat out the exhibition with a lower-body injury, managed five points on 1 of 6 shooting in 23 minutes.

Miami went 4 of 17 from 3-point range. When the Hurricanes could not get to the line, they could not score.

Haugh, Chinyelu and the Glass

Haugh's line deserves a closer look: 6 of 13 from the field, 4 of 8 from deep, 10 rebounds (five offensive), four assists, two steals, one block and zero turnovers. He is the kind of 6-foot-9 forward who would have been a first-round pick had he left, and he looked every bit of it.

Chinyelu, the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, scored only six points but still felt like the second most important player on the floor. His 14 rebounds and three blocks shrank the lane, and every Miami drive had to account for him. He fouled out late, which says plenty about how physical this one was.

Condon added 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Fland finished with 12 points, four assists and four steals, though he shot just 2 of 9 from the field and made his living at the line, going 6 of 10.

As a team, Florida shot 43 percent (23 of 53) and 42.3 percent from 3 (11 of 26). The Gators also piled up 17 assists to Miami's six, a gap that shows how much better the ball moved for Florida. Florida blocked five shots, Miami none.

The Bench Shows Up, the Free Throws Do Not

One of the quiet storylines out of the two exhibitions was a Florida bench that struggled to find a rhythm. On Monday, the reserves answered with 22 points. Klavzar had nine, Brown had seven on perfect shooting (2 of 2 from the field, 1 of 1 from 3, 2 of 2 at the line), and Petrovic contributed six points and three rebounds in his short stint.

The ugly part of the box score is the free throw line. Florida went 20 of 35, a 57 percent clip that included four missed front ends of one-and-ones. Chinyelu was 4 of 8, Haugh 3 of 8 and Fland 6 of 10. Against a top-15 team, Florida could afford it. In a one-possession game in February, it will not.

Lewis was the best player on the Miami side and it was not especially close. He scored 24 points on 9 of 20 shooting, added four rebounds and got to the line five times. He also had four turnovers, a fair price for how much the offense ran through him. Cyril chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds on 4 of 5 shooting, and the Georgia transfer gave Florida's bigs real resistance. Robert Miller III added six points off the bench on perfect shooting.

What It Means

For Florida, this is about as good an opener as a preseason No. 1 could ask for. The Gators beat a ranked rival on a neutral floor, did it with defense and rebounding instead of hot shooting, and got contributions from nine players. Todd Golden's group has gone 63-12 over the past two seasons and won the 2025 national title, and the core of that run is still here. The frontcourt of Haugh, Chinyelu and Condon is going to be a problem for everybody.

There are things to clean up. Florida turned it over 12 times, the free throw shooting was rough, and Aberdeen went 0 of 4 from 3.

For Miami, losing by 10 to the top team in the country is no disaster. Lewis looks like a legitimate lead guard, Cyril, who led the SEC in blocks at Georgia, gives the Hurricanes a proven rim protector, and Reneau should look more like himself as he gets healthier. The bigger concern is the 3-point shooting. A team that goes 4 of 17 from deep against an elite defense is going to find the same problem in ACC play.

Florida hosted Jacksonville on Thursday, Nov. 5, in its home opener (read the recap of that 88-57 win), and the Gators visit Florida State on Nov. 10. Miami hosts Wagner on Friday, Nov. 6.

For the full numbers, see the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and Florida's game recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN, Florida Athletics, Associated Press. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Night one of the season gave Florida exactly what a championship contender should want: a real opponent, a real punch to the mouth and a real answer. The Gators did not play their best game, and they still won by 10 over a top-15 team. That is the scariest part.

Photo: Florida Athletics.