Condon and Gators are tall and long but ready for a physical matchup with Houston in the NCAA final

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Florida’s Alex Condon has already been through the physical battle with Auburn’s Johni Broome and came out the other side battered but victorious.

Now come the muscular Houston Cougars in the fight for the national championship in the NCAA Tournament final. It’s time for the Aussie to lean into those skills he learned in the rough-and-tumble world of Australian rules football, where he also is a promising prospect.

The 6-foot-11 Gators sophomore forward at times looked overwhelmed by Broome's physical play, as he got backed into the basket or struggled to find his own position against Auburn's beefy front line.

“That game was the most physical game I've had all season,” Condon said Sunday.

He scored just one point and missed all five shots, but he persevered, and was still on the court late, drawing a key charge on Broome and challenging shots.

And that's where the Australian rules football comes in.

Condon was a rising prospect in that sport when he signed a deal with a professional club that he calls a fallback in case basketball “doesn't work out.”

But for now, he's taking the hard-knocks experiences of playing “footy” and the bodies crashing on the Aussie oval to the hardcourt.

“After I played football, it was the most physical basketball I’ve played because I wasn’t scared to get hit and I was able to initiate physicality with guys who are stronger than me," Condon said. “Don’t be scared or back down.”

Enter Houston.

The Cougars' J'Wan Roberts is a 6-foot-8, 23-year-old sixth-year center who gives up 3 inches to Condon but more than makes up for it in muscle and sheer determination to own every inch of space near the basket. Joseph Tugler is a sophomore carbon copy of Roberts and the Cougars' shutdown defender.

Tugler had four blocks in Houston's semifinal upset of Duke. Roberts disrupted Duke star Cooper Flagg's potential game-winner in the final seconds.

“You look at a guy like Tugler, Roberts, they have incredible length and athleticism and physicality inside the paint," Florida coach Todd Golden said. “They wear you down, make it really hard on you.”

Condon won't have to go it alone. The Gators counter with a rotation of 6-10, 260-pound Rueben Chinyelu, 7-1 Micah Handlogten, and 6-9 Thomas Haugh.

Haugh played the most against Auburn and scored 12 points in 25 minutes even though he also got caught in a few physical mismatches with Broome. Chinyelu grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

“We've got taller guys. We just have to play with elite-level energy and pace,” Condon said.

Chinyelu said he's ready for that.

“You have to go in with the mentality that this is war. It's down to two teams,” Chinyelu said.

Houston takes measure of the Gators' height and length but the Cougars don't seem too impressed. Or worried.

“Duke had size on us, too," Roberts said. “I feel like we have heart.”

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Auburn's Miles Kelly (13) looks to pass the ball as Florida's Alex Condon (21) and Rueben Chinyelu defend during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Florida center Rueben Chinyelu shoots over Auburn center Dylan Cardwell during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg drives to the basket past Houston forward Joseph Tugler during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Duke forward Cooper Flagg slips as Houston forward Joseph Tugler looks on during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) celebrates after Houston beat Duke in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Houston forward J'Wan Roberts dunks past Duke guard Kon Knueppel during the first half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Houston's J'Wan Roberts (13) reacts during the first half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Florida forward Alex Condon and forward Thomas Haugh celebrate their win against Auburn in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford (0) goes up for a shot as Florida's Alex Condon (21) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford (0) goes up for a shot as Florida's Alex Condon (21) defends during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that Nigeria's overstretched military has struggled with for years.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes were carried out against Islamic State militants “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

Nigeria, which is battling multiple armed groups, said the U.S. strikes were part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two countries.

The Associated Press could not confirm the extent of the strikes' impact. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a post on X about the airstrikes, said: “More to come...”

The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with the Islamic State — an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) known locally as Lakurawa and prominent in the northwest.

Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if indeed against Islamic State militants, was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.

The Nigerian military has said in the past that the group has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria's border communities following a 2023 military coup. That coup resulted in fractured relations between Nigeria and Niger, and affected their multinational military operations along the porous border.

Multiple analysts have said Lakurawa has been active in northwest Nigeria since around 2017 when it was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto to protect their communities from bandit groups.

The militants, however, "overstayed their welcome, clashing with some of the community leaders ... and enforcing a harsh interpretation of sharia law that alienated much of the rural population,” according to James Barnett, an Africa researcher with the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

“Communities now openly say that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from," according to Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.

Lakurawa controls territories in Sokoto and Kebbi states, and has become known for killings, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery, Samuel said.

But some of the attacks blamed on Lakurawa are by the Islamic State Sahel Province, which has expanded from Niger’s Dosso region to northwestern Nigeria, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

“ISSP has maintained a low profile, operating covertly to infiltrate and entrench itself along the Niger-Nigeria border, and is now also expanding its operations toward the Beninese border,” the project said in a recent report.

The security woes are more of a governance problem than a military one.

Motives for attacks differ but the gangs are often driven by the near absence of a state and security presence in conflict hot spots, making recruitment easy. Those hot spots, data show, have some of the country's highest levels of poverty, hunger and lack of jobs.

Nigeria’s Minister of Defense Christopher Musa once said in his past capacity as the defense chief that military action is only 30% of what is needed to fix the country's security crisis, while the remaining 70% depends on good governance.

“The absence of the state in remote communities is making it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the people as the best alternative government,” said Samuel.

Thursday's U.S. strikes were seen as crucial help for Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they fight multiple security crises across different regions.

In states like Sokoto, the military often carries out airstrikes targeting militant hideouts and Nigeria has embarked on mass recruitment of security forces.

But analysts say military operations targeting the gangs are not usually sustained and the militants easily move on motorcycles to new locations through vast forests that connect several states in the north.

They also often use hostages — including schoolchildren — as cover, making airstrikes difficult.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)