After winning a national championship last season, Florida basketball was in a bit of a rut to start this season after losing a lot of production from last year's team. A lot of the front court players were back for Todd Golden and company, but the Gators had to retool the backcourt after Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin all left for the NBA.
Florida did that by bringing in Boogie Fland from Arkansas and Xaivian Lee from Princeton to fill out the starting lineup, but the results have been mixed to this point in the year. Lee has been especially disappointing after being one of the most highly sought-after players in the entire transfer portal, and that has led to a lot of Florida's losses so far this season.
On Saturday, Lee showed why he came to Gainesville with such pedigree. The former Ivy League star scored 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, including a clutch 3-pointer to give Florida the lead in the final minute of a 98-94 win over No. 10 Vanderbilt on the road.
Lee's best game of the season came wearing No. 99 instead of his usual No. 1 after the equipment staff forgot to bring Lee's jersey to Nashville. After his breakout day, Golden wants him to stay in his new number for the rest of the season, via Zach Abolverdi of On3 Sports.
“If I have anything to say, he’s wearing 99 the rest of the way,” Golden said. “I told him in the locker room. Ultimately, I’ll let him make that call. But golly man, if we get that Xaivian Lee the rest of the year, we’re gonna be in good shape.”
Florida struggled some in the non-conference as they got accustomed to playing with both Lee and Fland, but Golden has this team playing some very good basketball now. After this win, the Gators are on a four-game winning streak, including three wins over ranked teams.
Lee and company will look to keep that momentum going on Tuesday night at home against a struggling LSU team before Auburn comes to town for a Final Four rematch on Saturday.
