Gators Sweep SEC Honors as Todd Golden Wins Coach of the Year
Fresh off its SEC regular-season championship, Florida men’s basketball added to its success with a collection of conference honors Tuesday.
The team earned an array of conference honors with three All-SEC recognitions and four individual league honors. For the first time since 2014, Florida had a league-best three players honored on the coaches’ All-SEC team.
Thomas Haugh earned first-team honors, while Rueben Chinyelu was named to the second team and Alex Condon to the third team. Chinyelu’s accolades didn’t stop there. The Nigeria native was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year and SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also selected to the SEC Community Service Team on Thursday.
Urban Klavžar added to Florida’s awards haul by earning SEC Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Todd Golden was named SEC Coach of the Year after leading Florida to a 16-2 record in conference play. Golden is 101-39 in his first four seasons with the Gators. His 100th win came against Mississippi State, making him the fastest coach in program history to reach the milestone.
Under Golden, Florida posted a +17.0 scoring margin in SEC play; the second-highest by any team this century. The only higher mark came from Florida’s 2012-13 team, which finished with a +17.6 margin.
Chinyelu has established himself as the anchor of Florida’s defense, which ranks fourth nationally in defensive efficiency on KenPom and makes scoring in the paint difficult for opposing front-courts and guards alike. He became just the second player in SEC history to earn both SEC Defensive Player of the Year and SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, joining former Florida standout Patric Young (2014).
Chinyelu, a sociology major, holds a 3.48 GPA, balancing academic excellence with dominant play on the court. He also leads the NCAA in rebounding at 11.7 rebounds per game and is on pace to become the first Gator in 50 years to average double-digit rebounds for a season.
With his first-team selection, Haugh earned his first SEC postseason honor. He leads the Gators in scoring at 17.2 points per game and has recorded 13 games with 20 or more points this season.
Haugh joins a strong list of first-team All-SEC selections under Golden, including Walter Clayton Jr. (2025), Zyon Pullin (2024) and Colin Castleton (2023).
Postseason recognition is nothing new for Alex Condon, who has earned SEC postseason honors in every year of his collegiate career. Condon was named third-team All-SEC for the second straight season after earning SEC All-Freshman honors in 2024. In conference play, he averaged 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, while also adding a team-second-best 3.6 assists per game.
Klavžar has emerged as a key spark off the bench for the Gators this season. The Slovenian sharpshooter averaged 10.7 points per game in SEC play while providing a major boost to Florida’s second unit. During the Gators’ 11-game win streak to close the regular season, Klavžar caught fire from beyond the arc, knocking down 27 of 55 three-point attempts (49%).
Florida now turns its attention to the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, where the Gators hold the No. 1 seed. They will open play in the quarterfinal round Friday at 1 p.m. against Missouri, Kentucky or LSU.
Here’s the full list of SEC awards:
2026 SEC Honorees
Coach of the Year: Todd Golden, Florida
Player of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
Newcomer of the Year: Dailyn Swain, Texas
Freshman of the Year: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Sixth-Man of the Year: Urban Klavžar, Florida
Defensive Player of the Year: Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
First Team
Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee
Thomas Haugh, Florida
Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
Second Team
Nate Ament, Tennessee
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
Otega Oweh, Kentucky
Dailyn Swain, Texas
Third Team
Rashaun Agee, Texas A&M
Alex Condon, Florida
Keyshawn Hall, Auburn
Aden Holloway, Alabama
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
All-Defensive Team
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
Somto Cyril, Georgia
Felix Okpara, Tennessee
Billy Richmond III, Arkansas
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
Amari Allen, Alabama
Nate Ament, Tennessee
Malachi Moreno, Kentucky
Meleek Thomas, Arkansas
Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball
