Florida guard Xaivian Lee earns SEC Player of the Week honors

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Gators senior guard Xaivian Lee has been named co-SEC Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday. Lee shares the honor with Texas forward Dailyn Swain.

Lee posted 18 points and seven assists with no turnovers in Florida’s 86-66 victory at Georgia last Wednesday. He scored or assisted on 14 of UF’s 32 field goals in the game (44%).

Lee scored a team-high 22 points — leading five Gators in double figures — in the 92-83 win over No. 25 Kentucky on Saturday. He made his first four attempts from 3, tying his season high.

“Honestly, I was just trying to be aggressive,” Lee said after beating UK. “Trying to set my teammates up, and I think when I’m looking to get downhill, for sure, opens up opportunities for myself and my teammates. So, definitely just trying to be in an attack-first mindset.”

Lee, who’s averaging 11.4 points this season, has now had four 20-point performances on the year.

“He’s playing great,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of Lee on Saturday. “He was fantastic at Georgia, he was great at Vanderbilt. He’s stacked some really good games over the last couple of weeks, and I thought he was fantastic (against Kentucky). Just got off to a great start knocking shots down.

“He did a really good job of playing with great patience in the paint, playing off two, making good decisions. And he gave us a big lift. Obviously, him and Urby [Klavzar] shooting the ball the way they did allowed us to win the game the way we did.”

With the honor, Florida has had a program-record and SEC-record-tying fourth different player win SEC Player of the Week honors. Lee, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon have been recognized, joining 2023-24 Texas A&M, 2010-11 Vanderbilt and 2007-08 Tennessee among programs with four different honorees in a season.

The No. 12 Gators (19-6, 10-2 SEC) return to the court on Tuesday against South Carolina at 7 p.m.

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