By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

An uncomfortable silence filled Florida’s locker room in the aftermath of the contest between the Gators and Iowa Hawkeyes, save for sniffles and, from center Rueben Chinyelu, an uncontrollable sob.

The Gators, who’d played with a target on their backs all season long as the defending national champions, had suffered a one-point loss to Iowa less than 20 minutes earlier, with defeat having ended their season far sooner than the collective had expected and hoped for, with the team intending to make another deep run in March and into the first weekend in April.

The season-ending defeat came at the hands of an Iowa team that for much of the contest was more physical and carved up a UF defense that entered the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation’s best, and it was difficult for Florida to process what had occurred, as much as they tried, as tears flowed around the room, from players to managers and athletic trainers.

Micah Handlogten sat in his locker, tears filling his eyes – to his credit, he spoke openly on what the team had meant to him, how it felt to see his collegiate career potentially conclude barring a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA, less than an hour earlier.

The team’s reserves, who will have opportunities in the future to make another run in the NCAA Tournament, in Olivier Rioux, Alex Lloyd and CJ Ingram, sat in silence.

Meanwhile, Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Xaivian Lee addressed the media nearby in the postgame press conference, with Haugh’s emotional dismay evident, a far cry from his exuberance nearly a year prior when he threw his hands into the air to celebrate Florida’s national championship.

There was no one in particular to blame for the loss the Gators just got beat, simple as that but more could have been done, and the Gators acknowledged as much.

A critical role player down the stretch, sophomore Isaiah Brown split a pair of free throws with eight seconds and change remaining in regulation, to give the Gators a two-point lead.

After connecting on the second attempt, Iowa beat Florida’s press and found Alvaro Folguieras wide-open in the corner for what would be the go-ahead three-pointer, and the Gators, after a timeout by the Hawkeyes, were unable to get a shot off in the closing seconds as Lee drove right and couldn’t get a clean look at the rim, instead attempting to find Haugh under the basket to no avail.

The loss will stick with the team beyond the weekend, and Brown won’t soon forget his timely misfire at the charity stripe, although he’ll look to use it as fuel to the fire in the years to come.

As Brown spoke, the sobs of Rueben Chinyelu could be heard nearby. The 6-foot-10 center, who finished with zero points and a lone rebound against an undersized Iowa frontcourt, couldn’t hide his devastation, even as associate head coach Carlin Hartman attempted to console the third-year big man who’d played a pivotal role in UF’s run to the national championship a season ago and had blossomed into one of the nation’s best defensive players as an upperclassman.

But Iowa didn’t go away, far from it, instead scoring five-consecutive points to swing the momentum back in its direction.

Post-defeat it’s even tougher, with players not wanting to think about the loss marking a conclusion to their time with a program, though Condon and Haugh in particular knew the questions would come.

Their decisions in the weeks if not days ahead will determine how Florida begins the process of moving on and regrouping for the 2026-27 season.

There were many skeptics from the jump this season, starting with Florida’s season-opening loss to Arizona in Las Vegas, a contest that may have been under-appreciated for its difficulty considering the Wildcats weren’t largely expected to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

UF would suffer defeat three additional times in non-conference play to start the season with a 5-4 record, and many questioned whether or not the Gators would be capable of making another deep run.

Doubters soon turned into believers as the Gators won 21 of their next 23 games to win the Southeastern Conference regular season title and secure a second-consecutive No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.

That’s how Florida’s coaching staff will remember this iteration of the Gators: not for Sunday’s loss in Tampa, but for the team’s ability to overcome adversity, become a close-knit group and play their best brand of basketball into the closing months of the regular Hartman, who has been instrumental in developing Florida’s under-recruited frontcourt into the nation’s best, is hopeful it won’t be the final time he’ll coach the team’s forwards and centers.

Yet he knows the chances are slim to none the group does what they did a season ago and return for another ride. His support for them won’t wane, however, if the frontcourt comes to the determination that moving on is in their best interest.

Exit meetings will occur in the near future, after Florida’s decompressed and processed more of the end result, not that coming to an understanding and eventual acceptance will ease the pain of a jarring defeat.

That’s how this group will be remembered by those within the confines of Florida’s basketball program: as winners, many of whom achieved the ultimate goal of cutting down the nets as the last team standing in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Doing it once is rare enough hoisting the trophy in back-to-back seasons is an elusive feat experienced by just three programs over the last 53 years.