After playing last season away from campus for two months due the O’Connell Center’s renovation, Florida will spend plenty of time at home in this year’s non-conference basketball schedule.
The Gators will open the season Nov. 13 at the O’Dome against Gardner-Webb and will play their first three games at Exactech Arena. Following Gardner-Webb, Florida will host UNF (Nov. 16) and New Hampshire (Nov. 19) before leaving for the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore., over Thanksgiving weekend.
In all, eight of Florida’s 13 non-conference games are at home, with five neutral court games and no true road games. The Gators will play up to seven major-conference opponents in the 13-game schedule and could play as many as five teams that were ranked in the Top 25 last season, depending on how they fare in Portland.
“Gator fans deserve to see us play this type of schedule,” Florida coach Mike White said. “It’s great preparation for the SEC season, of course, and it gives us an opportunity for the computers to like us. We’re all excited to get back to playing a full schedule at Exactech Arena, which our fans and the Rowdy Reptiles help make one of the great environments in college basketball.”
UFs first three neutral court games will be at the PK80 Invitational, beginning Thanksgiving night against Stanford, followed by a Nov. 24 game between either Gonzaga or Ohio State and a Nov. 26 game against either Duke, Texas, Butler or Portland State.
Florida will then return home to host rival Florida State on Dec. 4, followed by another neutral court game Dec. 9 against Cincinnati in the Never Forget Tribute Game in Newark, N.J.
The Gators will then take on Clemson at the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise on Dec. 16, followed by home games against James Madison (Dec. 20) and Incarnate World (Dec. 22). Florida will finish its non-conference slate at home against Baylor in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 27.
Florida will host Tampa in an exhibition game at Exactech Arena on Nov. 5. Television and start times for all games have yet to be determined
— Nov. 5, Tampa (exhibition) O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Nov. 13 Gardner-Webb O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Nov. 16 UNF O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Nov. 19 New Hampshire O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Nov. 23 Stanford PK 80/Portland, Ore.
— Nov. 24 Gonzaga or Ohio State PK 80/Portland, Ore
— Nov. 26 Duke/Texas/Butler/Portland St. PK 80/Portland, Ore.
— Dec. 4 Florida State O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Dec. 6 Loyola-Chicago O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Dec. 9 Cincinnati Never Forget Tribute Classic/Newark, N.J.
— Dec. 16 Clemson Orange Bowl Classic/Sunrise
— Dec. 20 James Madison O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Dec. 22 Incarnate Word O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
— Jan, 27 Baylor O’Connell Center/Exactech Arena
