{"id":185002,"date":"2026-04-01T20:57:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=185002"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:36:38","slug":"where-does-the-florida-gators-2026-27-roster-stands-after-re-signing-australian-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/04\/01\/where-does-the-florida-gators-2026-27-roster-stands-after-re-signing-australian-guard\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Does The Florida Gators 2026-27 Roster Stands After Re-Signing Australian Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Todd Golden<\/a> has the Florida Gators back in the national spotlight.<\/p>\n

While the Gators came up short in their quest to win back-to-back national championships, they should be among the favorites next year, as most of their roster should remain intact. However, there is still potential for a shakeup.<\/p>\n

Where Does The Florida Gators Roster Stand Heading Into Transfer Portal Season<\/h2>\n

Florida<\/a> (27-8) had another great season, but it wasn’t as strong as the 2024-25 season due to its lack of perimeter shooting. The Gators lost three players to the NBA last season — Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard — while Denzel Aberdeen transferred to Kentucky.<\/p>\n

Still, Florida’s 27 victories are tied for the 11th most in program history. The Gators also won their first regular-season SEC title since 2013-14 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the upcoming offseason, Golden has some work to do in the transfer portal. Golden, who is 103-41 in three years at the helm of the Gators, will have to replace starting guard Xavian Lee and key big man Micah Handlogten, as both have exhausted their eligibility. Thomas Haugh, projected to be a first-round pick, is expected to enter the NBA draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Haugh does indeed leave, the Gators will have to rebuild their frontcourt. It will become a bigger priority if Alex Condon and Rubean Chinyelu could also head to the NBA<\/a> this year. Both bigs are potential second-round picks. One other thing that is known for sure is that Olivier Rioux<\/a> won’t be spending another season in Gainesville.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Matt Pendleton<\/a>, Imagn Images<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/h3>\n

Olivier Rioux is entering the transfer portal.<\/h3>\n

According to On3’s Joe Tipton<\/a>, Olivier Rioux<\/a> is entering the 2026 NCAA transfer portal.<\/p>\n

“Florida 7-foot-9 center Olivier Rioux plans to enter the Transfer Portal<\/span>, a source tells <\/span>On3,” Tipton tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n

The transfer portal officially opens on April 7 and closes on April 21. However, players have to announce their intention before the close date, not sign with a new team.<\/p>\n

Rioux has seen sparse action since joining the Florida Gators before the 2024-25 campaign. The 7-9, 305-pound redshirt freshman totaled 15 minutes over 11 appearances this past season, totaling six points (3 offensive) on 50% shooting and six rebounds. His most productive game came in the Gators first-round NCAA tournament victory over Prairie View A&M, where he tallied two points on 1 of 3 shooting, along with two rebounds and one assist in two minutes.<\/p>\n

Rioux’s Improvement<\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u201c[Rioux’s] hands have gotten better, Florida head coach Todd Golden said before the season<\/a>. “His feet and comfort on the floor have improved. He\u2019s had an incredibly good summer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite not getting much playing time, Rioux has earned his former teammates’ respect. The 20-year-old Quebec native redshirted during the Gators 2024-25 national championship run after reclassifying to the class of 2024 late.\u00a0 Besides working on his game with the Gators, Rioux has spent time with Team Canada youth national teams the past two summers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we\u2019re playing and set up an opportunity to get our guys in, we do that,\u201d Chinyelu said about Rioux and other seldom-used players following the win over Prairie View. \u201cBecause they grind. You don\u2019t see behind the scenes. They\u2019re getting ready, they\u2019re getting us ready. They play with us to try make sure when we go out there that we\u2019re able to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think that\u2019s the gift, the time that we give them, to pay them back as a thank you for what you guys are doing,” Chinyelu added. They get us better, and then we go out there and perform. Doing that is like saying \u2018without you guys, we couldn\u2019t be here\u2019 because it\u2019s all rubbing off on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Who Is Definitely Returning For Gators In 2026-27<\/h3>\n

While UF waits for Condon<\/a>, Chinyelu, and Haugh’s decisions, Golden has re-signed five players. According to Zach Abolverdi<\/a> of Gators Online, Alex Kovatchev<\/a> has agreed to return to the Gators. Kovatchev averaged 49 minutes over 15 games, totaling eight points on 3 of 15 shooting, including 2 of 9 from the 3-point line. The 6-5 Australian guard will enter his second year with the Gators with two years of eligibility left. He appeared in 33 games as a freshman for Sacramento State in 2023-24 but took a medical redshirt for the 2024-25 campaign.<\/p>\n

Kovatech becomes the fifth player to come to terms with Florida Victorious, the Gators NIL partner. \u00a0<\/span>Boogie Fland<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Urban Klavzar<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Isaiah Brown<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>AJ Brown<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Alex Lloyd<\/a> are the others to agree to terms.<\/p>\n

Fland showed offensive growth, though he needs to improve as a perimeter shooter, and was fantastic defensively.\u00a0 Klavzar took his game to another level and was the Gators’ best 3-point shooter, knocking down two threes at a 40.6% clip. Klavzar was the SEC 6th-man of the year.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Brown showed improvement and was part of Golden’s second unit in year two.\u00a0 AJ Brown showed some scoring ability in three seasons at Ohio University, but redshirted this past season. Lloyd, a top-50 consensus 2025 recruit, struggled in limited minutes.<\/p>\n

What Is Next<\/h4>\n

“Before Florida fully goes into the portal, the Gators will need to figure out which of their starters are returning to Gainesville,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello said.<\/a> Haugh has played himself into a potential lottery pick<\/a>, so we can project him to enter the NBA draft. But both Condon and Chinyelu were projected second-round picks in <\/span>ESPN’s most recent mock draft<\/a>, leaving their short-term futures more uncertain. Klavzar could move into the starting lineup with Lee gone, but he proved to be incredibly useful as a sixth man. Could any of the seldom-used roster players make a sizable jump and move into a consistent rotation role the way Isaiah Brown did from 2024-25 to 2025-26? It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Florida go into the portal or look at international players to bring in at least two or three more perimeter players.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven-foot center Jones Lay<\/a> is the only player who has signed in Golden’s 2026 recruiting class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Golden has the Florida Gators back in the national spotlight. While the Gators came up short in their quest to win back-to-back national championships, they should be among the favorites next year, as most of their roster should remain intact. However, there is still potential for a shakeup. Where Does The Florida Gators Roster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":185390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2],"tags":[3772,777,49803],"class_list":["post-185002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","tag-college-basketball-recruiting","tag-florida-gators","tag-todd-golden"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185002"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185733,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185002\/revisions\/185733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}