‘Stuff to Prove’: Thomas Haugh, Gators Ready to Settle Score
Strong signs pointed to Florida small forward Thomas Haugh entering the 2026 NBA Draft after the 2025-26 season. ESPN ranked him as the 13th overall prospect, but a 45-minute phone call with NBA veteran Draymond Green helped keep him put in Gainesville.
Green told Haugh the truth regarding the NBA – players entering the league are older and more experienced.
“It’s cool to hear from an NBA perspective,” Haugh said Tuesday. “He said he would go back.”
The Gators have a deep roster, with four of five starters from last year returning, including Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon. They also return key contributors Boogie Fland, Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown.
“I don’t know if any team ever had this much depth,” Haugh said. “So when it’s time to go, me, Condon, Rueben, all of us, there’s going to be an insane core group of guys in the following years to come.”
Florida opened summer workouts Tuesday and will open the 2026-27 season Nov. 2 against Miami in Tampa at Benchmark International Arena — the same arena where the Gators’ season ended in March. With one second left in the second round of March Madness against No. 9 Iowa, Haugh bobbled a pass from Xaivian Lee as time expired. Haugh’s hands and knees hit the floor as the No. 1 Gators fell in an upset.
“After that game, I was a little distraught; Our whole team was,” Haugh said. “It’s not even that it was going to be my last game, but that it was going to be the last time I play with guys like Xaivian.”
Haugh has been instrumental in the Gators’ rotation the last couple of seasons, whether as a sixth man on the 2025 national championship team or last year as one of the team’s primary scorers. He averaged 17.1 pts, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists, earning consensus All-American honors.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Haugh said. “We have some stuff to prove and finish out in that arena.”
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