Charles Bediako played for the Alabama Crimson Tide at Florida on Sunday, his third game of the 2025-26 season since being granted a temporary restraining order. The Gators beat them anyway, proving Todd Golden‘s pregame prediction true.
In a game that wasn’t close for most of the second half, Florida defeated Alabama running away, 100-77. The Gators improve to 7-2 in conference play, just a half game behind Texas A&M (7-1) in the SEC standings.
Bediako, who has been a major storyline since his return to college basketball, was Alabama’s leading rebounder with 7 boards. He also had 6 points and 4 blocks before fouling out in the final minutes of the game. Florida’s big men proved to be more dominant.
Rueben Chinyelu posted his 13th double-double of the season, and 6th in his last 7 outings. Chinyelu had a game-high 17 rebounds with 14 points. He also had a highlight defensive sequence likely to make the SportsCenter top 10.
BEST DEFENDER IN ALL OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 1, 2026
ABC pic.twitter.com/KNPL5xapgW
Florida’s other returning big men from the national title team, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, led the scoring effort. Condon was the game’s high scorer with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, adding 3 free throws. Haugh had 22 points, including 2 of Florida’s 3 3-pointers.
The Gators were just 3-of-13 from behind the arc, but it didn’t matter because they dominated the paint. Florida has 72 points in the paint to Alabama’s 26. The Tide shot 34 3-pointers, making 14 of them.
Though maybe not the headlining performance, Boogie Fland also had one of his most impressive showings in orange and blue both offensively and defensively. The Arkansas transfer had 15 points, 8 assists and 8 steals.
Those 8 steals played a big part in one of the game’s leading storylines. Alabama committed 18 turnovers, while Florida only had 2 on the day. That led to a points-off-turnovers difference of 25-0 in UF’s favor.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
