SAN ANTONIO ― Florida basketball sophomore forward Alex Condon has endured some up-and-down stretches throughout the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Condon sprained his ankle during UF's Sweet 16 win over Maryland but battled back to appear in all five NCAA Tournament games for the Florida Gators. In those five games, Condon has averaged 6.2 points and 5.4 rebounds, posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 13 to 10.
Condon is expected to start at forward again when Florida (35-4) faces Houston (35-4) in the national title game on Monday night at the Alamodome (8:50 p.m.). He's looking forward to another chance to bounce back from his recent struggles.
"I did a decent job in the second half," Condon said. "I wasn't scoring it great, had a few turnovers in the first half, just coming back and making sure that didn't affect me in the second half and just making sure I did what I could to help the team win."
Condon would up with more turnovers (3) than points (1) in 22 minutes during UF's 79-73 Final Four win over Auburn on Saturday. But there were some redemptive moments for Condon late in the game, including drawing a key offensive foul on Auburn center Johni Broome and blocking a shot in crunch time.
Two of Condon's three turnovers came on back door pass attempts, an adjustment he says he can make heading into Monday night's game.
"Just seeing (them) over-reading it a little now is going to open up other cuts, other plays for us as well," Condon said.
Condon has faith that he and the rest of the Gators will respond the right way on Monday night against Houston.
"The whole world is watching us," Condon said. "We're on the biggest stage in college basketball in college basketball right now. We've just got to trust ourselves. We've done the work, we're here for a reason. We've got one more to go and it's going to be a good one."
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun's Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
"One of those
Just seeing that other over reading it now is going to open up other cuts and other plays for us as well that's just a mental thing understanding teams are going to do this.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Alex Condon looking to bounce back for Florida basketball vs Houston in NCAA final
