Alex Condon nearly pulls off triple-double in Florida basketball win over JU

Florida basketball senior forward Alex Condon remains of the most versatile forwards in college basketball with his combination of size, speed and passing ability. Condon nearly pulled off a feat that no Florida Gators basketball player has done for a close to a decade during No, 1 UF's home-opening 88-57 win over Jacksonville at the O'Connell Center. The 6-foot-11 Condon wound up just two assists shy of a triple-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in 25 minutes against the Dolphins. Only three UF basketball players have recorded triple-doubles in program history, with point guard Chris Chiozza the last to do it by recording 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists against Missouri on Feb. 2, 2017. Nick Calathes posted two triple-doubles in his UF career against Georgia (20 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists on Jan. 28, 2019) and Creighton (11 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists on March 21, 2008). Corey Brewer was the first UF player to ever post a triple double with 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds against Jacksonville on Dec. 18, 2005. Condon said teammate Rueben Chinyelu made him aware that he was close to recording a triple-double in the second half. "Rueben was telling me throw him the ball, it's an automatic assist," Condon said. Condon did match a fellow Australian, becoming the first SEC player since LSU turned NBA star Ben Simmons to post a double-double with seven-plus assists and three-plus blocks. Simmons did that against UNF on December 2, 2015. "He's obviously a very inspiring player." said Condon, who grew up watching Simmons. " Made a lot of money in the NBA, very great college basketball player as well for LSU. Definitely an inspiration for a kid as well, he's super unselfish." Florida basketball coach Todd Golden credited Condon's hot start in helping UF build a 50-28 halfime lead. Condon had 9 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in the first half. "He was ridiculous in the first half, just the way he played," Golden said. "He was zipping the ball around the floor. He had some really, really fantastic assists, looking for 3-point shooters and the cutters. Was finishing, making his free throws." Golden opted to pull Condon with the game in hand rather than keep him in during the closing minutes to try to get the two more assists to record a triple double. "A big thing that we talked about going into this game was that was this is all about us and playing towards a standard and not worrying about individual success," Golden said. "So, it'd be a little counter intuitive in that moment to kind of leave him in there and get an individual statistic when we were playing for the team and for the standard." Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s  Florida  beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.