Baylor Beats Florida 82-76 in Overtime Exhibition as Kayden Mingo Scores 31 in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA · SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026

Let us be honest about what this was, because the honesty is the story. Baylor's 82-76 overtime win over Florida on Sunday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville was an exhibition. It counts for nothing in the standings, nothing in the record book, and Kayden Mingo's 31 points would not even be a career high in the official sense — SicEm365 noted they would have been, had this been a real game. And yet a Florida team that returned four starters, brought back key pieces of its 2024-25 national championship squad and was picked as a top-five team for this season spent 45 minutes getting outshot, out-benched and, in overtime, out-finished by a Baylor team picked to finish 10th in the Big 12. Exhibitions are supposed to be answers. Florida left with a list of questions.

Start with the answer Baylor found. Mingo, the sophomore transfer from Penn State, was the best player on the floor by a wide margin: 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 11-of-15 at the free-throw line, eight rebounds and four assists, according to FloridaGators.com, the Gators' official site. Nine of those points came in overtime. The last three were the dagger — after his younger brother Dylan grabbed a loose ball off a wild Baylor miss in the final minute of overtime, Kayden Mingo took the pitch-out and hit a three-pointer that pushed the lead to five with 37 seconds left, per the official Florida report. Dylan Mingo, a freshman, finished with 12 points and eight rebounds of his own. Isaac Williams IV added 17 points, FL Teams reported, including 3-of-4 shooting from three. Scott Drew may have rebuilt this roster in a hurry, but the Mingo brothers did not look like a rebuild on Sunday. They looked like a backcourt.

Florida's shooting numbers were worse than the score

Now the autopsy, because Florida's box score is genuinely hard to look at. The Gators shot 34.7 percent from the floor, 4-of-29 from three-point range — 13.8 percent — and 22-of-35 at the free-throw line, 62.9 percent, per FloridaGators.com. Their two top perimeter shooters were the coldest men in the building: Denzel Aberdeen scored 15 points but went 3-for-17 overall and 0-for-10 from three, and Urban Klavzar went 0-for-7. Combined, that is 3-for-20 from the field and 0-for-15 from deep from the two guards Florida most needs to make shots. The bench was worse: Baylor's reserves outscored Florida's 33-3, and the Gator bench shot a combined 1-for-14, a disparity Sports Illustrated's takeaways also flagged as the game's quiet difference-maker.

And still, somehow, Florida nearly won — which tells you the other half of the story. The Gators grabbed 26 offensive rebounds to Baylor's 12 and outrebounded the Bears 46-41 overall, per Gators Wire's recap for USA Today. Thomas Haugh led Florida with 19 points before fouling out in overtime. Rueben Chinyelu had 13 points and 15 rebounds. Alex Condon had 13 points and nine rebounds. Every Florida starter scored at least 13. The Gators kept missing shots and kept getting the ball back, and a team that rebounds like that will be in almost every game it plays. A team that shoots like that will have to be.

The final minute that forced overtime, and the five minutes that ended it

The ending of regulation was pure October chaos. Florida trailed by two in the final seconds when Baylor was called for traveling, handing the Gators the ball back, per FL Teams. Aberdeen, who had endured a miserable shooting night, made the one shot that mattered most: a jumper in the final second — 0.8 seconds on the clock, by the official account — that tied the game and forced overtime. It was a redemption moment, and for about two minutes of overtime it looked like it might hold up, as Florida twice edged in front early in the extra period.

Then Mingo took the game away. The Bears scored six straight to seize command, Baylor went 9-of-10 at the free-throw line in overtime according to Saturday Down South's recap, and the dagger three off his brother's hustle play made it a five-point game with 37 seconds left. Haugh fouled out with 26 seconds remaining, per Gators Wire, and that was effectively that. Florida coach Todd Golden did not dress it up afterward. "There's a reason why we play those exhibitions," Golden said, via FL Teams. "Obviously, we didn't take advantage today." He was blunter about the bench: it was never going to be good enough, and his team has to make shots too.

What it means — and what it does not

Here is what it does not mean: Florida is not in trouble in any standings that exist, because this game is not in them. The Gators get one more exhibition, against Stetson on Oct. 27, and open the regular season Nov. 2 against Miami. What it does mean is that the concerns are specific and fixable and now on film: perimeter shooting that ranked near the bottom nationally last season, per FL Teams, looked like it again; the free throws leaked 13 points; and a bench that produced three points in 45 minutes cannot survive an SEC season. Baylor, meanwhile, heads to Champaign to play Illinois on Oct. 23 at the State Farm Center with something better than hope — it has proof, against a championship-pedigree front line, that its new guards can close a game. For more college sports from a wild weekend, see the new AP Top 25, with Miami at No. 1, and follow everything at Previously's sports coverage.