Gators Alex Condon Starting Year Strong

The Florida Gators forward/center is far exceeding his expectations out of the gate

In the first couple games of the season, Alex Condon has been electric for the Gators / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

When Florida Gators forward/center Alex Condon was named to Preseason All-SEC Third Team this summer, it probably caught most by surprise. He had only made one start at the end of the season in his freshman year due to a gruesome injury sustained by Micah Handlogten and maybe didn’t have as dominant of a year as the others in the league. 

However, he’s backed up that vote of confidence with a strong start to his sophomore season in Gainesville. 

In the first game of the year against South Florida, Condon ran into some early foul trouble. That didn’t impact his play too much though. He was very efficient on the night, shooting 5-for-6 from the field and ending with 13 points. Additionally, he grabbed five offensive rebounds and dished out two assists. 

He then followed up this steady performance with an even more impressive display in the first home game of the season against Jacksonville. 

Condon was lights out in the first game of the season in Exactech Arena, scoring a career-high 23 points on 100 percent shooting from the field. He finished the game 7-for-7 and 2-for-2 from 3. The only knock against him against Jacksonville was his free throw shooting. He made just seven of his 12 attempts from the charity stripe. 

Still though, this was certainly a red hot night for the big man, who has been on fire to begin the 2024-25 campaign. 

To begin the year, he’s averaging 18.0 points per game over these two games while shooting 92.3 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from behind the arc. Furthermore, he’s been perfect from anywhere inside the 3-point line. He’s shooting 10-for-10 on 2-point attempts and 2-for-3 on 3-pointers. If efficiency is the game, then he’s winning by a fine margin. 

Now, granted, this is a very small sample size. It’s only been two games. Still, he’s playing at a very high level for the Gators who hold high expectations this season. Condon also seems to be playing more physically offensively and getting to the line with regularity. 

In both contests this season, he has amassed five or more free throws. He had 12 total attempts against Jacksonville alone. Compare this to last season where he only had eight games out of 36 where he had five or more attempts. Moreover, the highest number of free throw attempts he had in a single game in 2023-24 was 11 against East Carolina and he already bested that in the second game of the season. 

Another area that could be a sign of good things to come in the near future is his 3-point shooting. Condon is 2-for-3 from deep across both games. So, we will need to see more volume to know where his true efficiency in this department will land, but it’s a great sign that he’s becoming more confident in this part of his game, which he acknowledged after the win. 

“I have been shooting a little more in practice recently, so I'm getting more confident with that,” Condon said. 

Condon is already showing great improvements early into his sophomore season, and hopefully, in Florida’s case, this instant success is sustained over the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign.