Who I Watched (3/29): Thomas Haugh vs. Texas Tech
Evaluating the Florida prospect in the NCAA Tournament against Texas Tech.
I’m high on Thomas Haugh as a 2026 first rounder and he’s draftable in 2025 if he chooses that path, although I think he should probably wait. Here is a breakdown of his the Florida wing’s Elite Eight game vs. Texas Tech on March 29:
BOX SCORE: 20 PTS (6/11 FG, 4/6 3P, 4/4 FT), 11 REB (3o/8d), 2 AST, 1 TOV, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4 PF in 30 MINS
Haugh’s first moment of the game flashed his do-it-all skillset and how he’s finding ways to contribute for Florida while not being a featured player. He checks into the game, crashes the offensive glass, secures the rebound over the top, and makes the quick pass out to assist a three-pointer.
In one play, Haugh gets an offensive rebound and an assist — and I love these sequences where a prospect racks up more than one box score stat over the course of a single possession.
On defense, I’ll start by noting that Haugh’s role was fairly similar throughout the entire contest. He was tasked with defending Darrion Williams a fair bit, largely in the post.
Touching on Williams, his NBA swing skill is really whether his production can translate to quicker decision making and less back-to-the-basket touches. Haugh does a solid enough job against the Texas Tech playmaker in his first couple of defensive possessions.
Speaking of swing skills, one swing skill for the vast majority of NBA hopefuls nowadays is the three-pointer.
Haugh has converted 33.7 3P% (32/95) of his catch-and-shoots — which is just about enough. I think he needs to take and make threes on higher volume still, though. For instance, he only has 12 'Guarded' makes all season while averaging 2.6 threes per game and 5.9 threes per 100 possessions.
Haugh demonstrates soft touch on the above three, and his willingness from the outside is pretty encouraging as a whole.
If Haugh makes threes, then can he make plays and score off the catch? The results were mixed vs. Texas Tech, but I thought the intentions were mostly positive.
The Florida prospect shows some creativity with his handle attacking from a spot-up here and gets fouled. Haugh flashes some change of direction potential in this clip, although he doesn’t actually cover much ground.
Haugh’s next time attacking off the catch was slightly complicated by Florida’s spacing with Alex Condon in the right dunker area.
This is actually an issue the Gators have run into sometimes this season with Haugh and Condon (or more sparingly, Micah Handlogten or Rueben Chinyelu), so it’s actually more contextual and reocurring than it seems. I don’t have an issue with this possession…
… But this process needs to be better. First, Haugh hesitates to take the open spot-up three. Then, his handle is loose attacking the closeout.
Instead, this is much better.
I love how the Gators sophomore is decisive putting the ball on the floor within two dribbles and making his move to score.
I’ll dive back into Haugh’s shot a little bit later, because the attempts I’m discussing depend on game context, but I broadly feel good about his ability to spot-up and go.
Haugh’s motor deserves a shoutout. He’s decently athletic, but what I like more than that is that he doesn’t give up on plays.
The first clip in the video above is self-explanatory with the athletic dunk in transition, but the clip I truly love is the second one.
Haugh makes the extra effort to not give up on the defensive rebound, basically diving out of bounds to secure the ball, which in turn allows Florida to run and get a quick bucket.
At the top of this piece, I mentioned how I love when prospects combine stats into one play. Haugh does this again here — but I also want to highlight that this is a clutch play that continued to fuel Florida’s unlikely comeback.
Haugh runs the two-man game with Walter Clayton Jr., “parachutes in” from the perimeter to secure the rebound, and then drills the pick-and-pop three.
Moments later, Haugh hit another big three.
Of course, the draft is all about looking at season(s) in context, rather than at isolated moments, but I also think that delivering when it matters most genuinely counts for something (that should evidently then be appropriately weighed and not over-emphasized).
Haugh was a solid interior defender against Texas Tech. He contained post-ups, including against JT Toppin, and was generally alert helping around the basket. The Florida prospect has protoypical size for a wing at 6-foot-9, and he moves really well. He does need to get stronger, though, and I prefer him further away from the paint.
To wrap things up, I want to spotlight two defensive stances against Darrion Williams that popped to me.
In this first one, Haugh’s hips are just so fluid, and then I really appreciate how he takes that one extra step-up to truly contest Williams’ shot.
In this video, focus on the first clip and how Williams takes his time to score on Haugh with his back to the basket.
In the second clip, Haugh learns from this in real time and later rejects Williams in the post. He completely reads the Texas Tech man’s intentions and snuffs him out in single coverage.